Hunters of the Hunters
by bluhawk19
Summary: Jaeger Banzai, a young but mysterious huntsman, becomes a teacher at Beacon. Besides his fast developing relationships with students such as Team RWBY, trying do deal with his past, and training future hunters, he's part of the fight against the Organization, the looming threat to Vytal that threatens to decimate everything that he has fought to protect.
1. Welcome to Beacon

**AN: Hey guys! So this is actually a rewrite of this chapter. I felt that the original first chapter of this fanfic was quite sub-par, so I wrote this, which I feel is better than the original.**

 **For those who are reading this fanfic for the first time, I hope you enjoy. Oh, and words in italics are the thoughts of the person who the perspective was last on. Okay, three, two, one, let's jam!**

* * *

"Okay, Ozpin, what did you call me here for?" asked a hooded figure as he entered the Beacon principal's office. The man was just a couple of inches shorter than Ozpin. He had Caucasian skin, but that was covered up almost completely by the jet-black kevlar and also black, skintight fabric that made up his body armour. His hood, which he was currently wearing for theatrics, was loose-fitting and obscured his eyes and nose with shadows, allowing just his mouth to be visible.

His gaze swept from left to right across the room. _Seriously, could he at least turn on some lights? The moon isn't that bright tonight._

The hooded man didn't voice his complaint, however. As an alumni of Beacon, he knew Ozpin well enough to know not to question his eccentricities.

"It's good to see you too, Jaeger," the principal nonchalantly greeted his former student. "I am grateful that you took time off the investigation to see me."

"Yeah, well, I was getting tired of swooping from shadow to shadow anyway. So, why'd you need to see me on such short notice?" the man called Jaeger replied. Ozpin motioned for Jaeger to take a seat across from himself at his desk.

"Pyrrha Nikos is in on our operations, is she not?" Ozpin asked. He received a simple nod in response. "Well, as you know, she is to be one of the new students this year, and I know that you want to reconnect with your generation. So why don't we kill two birds with one stone?"

"I would like to invite you to join the faculty staff here. Miss Nikos could prove valuable in the investigation into the Organization, so it would be good for a trained huntsman who already knows her," Ozpin stared straight at Jaeger when he said this, "to be part of her circle at Beacon. You can help her as she helps you."

Jaeger stared back at Ozpin, not sure that there was much logic in Ozpin's first reason for Jaeger to join as a teacher.

"As for reconnecting with your own generation as well as society, your age is optimal for you to form friendships with the students. The fact that you graduated from here only a few years ago should make them more open to you than the rest of the teachers. As an alumni, you could also help pupils with certain predicaments that they may face.

"Other than those two, I have one more reason, or rather, a request. I would like you to help out the other teachers, at first. After you gain a bit of experience, there is something else I want you to take up, but we'll get there when we get there."

Jaeger raised an eyebrow as he pondered the very unexpected proposal. _It would give me a chance to help Pyr and the other students out. Makes sense that he would want me to help guide students. First years, at least._

"I don't know. This could cut into investigation time," he said, considering all aspects of this 'job offer' and what its effects would be.

"Jaeger, you've been investigating almost non-stop for the past month. This request itself is a request from our superiors in Atlas. They think that you need to do something other than hunt down the Organization. You need to live a normal life."

A lull settled in the conversation as Ozpin waited for Jaeger's decision. The younger huntsman threw the idea around in his mind.

On one hand, he could rebuild his relationship with Pyrrha. He could make new friends, and help make those friends better hunters and people.

But to do that, he would have to sacrifice time that could be used to find other members of the Organization like Roman Torchwick.

His mind waged battle within itself for five minutes, calculating his choice and considering all points before he came to a decision.

"I wish that you would've brought this to me a few days ago, but I think it is both logical and best for me that I accept. I'll try it out for a bit and see how it goes."

Ozpin responded with a curt nod. "Good. I'll have a pack of further instructions sent to your home."

"Okay, but I have a request myself. I don't want the students to know my real age."

The headmaster raised an eyebrow at this. "And why is that?"

"Well, I'm only 20 years old. The normal starting age is 17. I just want to set a gap between us because I don't want to get showered in adoration just because my team advanced through Beacon in three years. If I'm say... 22, then I'll have graduated at 21. If I feel the need to tell someone my real age, then I will. But otherwise, let's keep it under wraps."

Ozpin took another sip of the seemingly bottomless mug of coffee. "I will grant your request. As of tomorrow, those who don't know you will know you as a 22-year-old Jaeger Banzai.

Jaeger nodded and got up to leave; his mind still trying to get around the bizarre offer that he had just accepted.

"And I expect that you still remember the workings of the first day," Ozpin stated, getting another nod of confirmation for an answer.

Jaeger was about to deliver his farewell and depart when he glanced out at the city through Ozpin's large office windows. The splendour of Vale at night wasn't what caught his eye, however.

"Um... Oz..." he trailed off as he repeatedly point out the windows. Ozpin whirled around in his chair to see a bullhead hovering beside the roof of a building. He saw a faint explosion caused by an all too familiar glyph.

"It looks like Glynda's enjoying her night on the town," Ozpin commented with a knowing grin, of course followed up by a sip of the special teacher's coffee. "Now, I just remembered, you can't leave yet. We still have the findings of your other occupation to discuss..."

* * *

The following day...

The sun shone brightly as Beacon's newest teacher departed from the airship that had brought him to his new workplace and residence. His short, spiked, jet-black hair and piercing green eyes glistened in the sunlight as he made his way down the path to Beacon.

Jaeger smiled at nothing in particular as he strolled down the Avenue of Beacon Academy. He had sent his baggages ahead of himself, and was now on his way to see his new residence.

But first, he had to wade through the flocks of new students that were flowing out of airships at the landing pads. He passed a white-haired girl, who was also decked out in white clothes, shouting at a girl with a red cape and hood—who looked too young to attend Beacon—that was trying unsuccessfully to apologize from something. _Interesting. Ozpin's enrolled another too-young-to-attend student. Wait... is the all-white girl standing in a crater?! You know what, I'll just ignore it. I don't even want to get caught up in whatever's going on._

He averted his gaze from the bizarre scene in front of him and continued down the Avenue. Passing a group of laughing students who were in a ring around a very attractive blonde, he made his way to the path that led to the teachers' rooms.

* * *

After an uneventful visit to his new residence—exactly the same as the student teams' rooms but furnished with a queen-sized bed instead of four single beds—Jaeger sauntered out into the sunlight again to go to the amphitheatre. Glynda had asked that all teachers—save for Professors Oobleck and Peach, who were at a convention—be there for Ozpin's year-opening address to the freshmen.

He reminisced fondly of his first day as he entered the auditorium and climbed the stairs to the first floor. After taking a seat at the front row of the middle seating area, he watched the students swarming below as he waited for Beacon's headteacher to begin.

His eyes fluttered around the room, searching for his old friend, Pyrrha Nikos. Before he could spot her fiery red hair, however, another girl caught his eye. The same one who was in the crater earlier. Once again she was arguing with the caped girl.

Jaeger rolled his eyes, mentally noting that he should talk to the two at some point and settle whatever was going on.

The sound of microphone feedback and Ozpin clearing his throat brought the bustling crowd to silence. Jaeger eyed his new boss with a knowing frown, seeing that something was clearly off about him. _He's still thinking about that possible bombing that I told him about yesterday..._

Jaeger himself fell into deep thought about that subject. A few days before, he had found plans to blow up something with dust. From the details of the plans, there would be enough dust to blow up all of Beacon Academy...

Ozpin finished his concise speech and immediately made his exit; his mind trying to piece together security measures in case of a terrorist attack on his academy.

* * *

Later that night...

Jaeger groaned as he thought about the upcoming night of nothing. _I can't believe Glynda put me in charge of watching the new students tonight. Is this some kinda initiation ritual for new teachers?! Seriously, I technically haven't even started here yet!_

He had been there for only thirty minutes, and had boredly watched as students flocked in and laid out their sleeping bags. The girls and most of the boys had gone to the ACTUAL changing rooms to change, but a few males stayed behind and got changed right in front of everyone, including a miserable Jaeger.

He had narrowly missed Pyrrha, who was now in the changing rooms, and was the only person he knew. So he decided to look for the girls that he promised himself he would deal with. And sure enough, he found them, as well as the buxom blonde from earlier, arguing to one side of the room.

Jaeger sighed before getting up and walking over to them. He made sure that his posture was perfect and that he was giving off an air of authority and confidence. _Make a good first impression, Jaeg. Don't want to ruin the relationships with students before the year even starts._

He took a deep breath before clearing his throat. "Excuse me, ladies, but what is going on here. This is the third time I've seen you guys," he said while gesturing to white-haired girl and formerly-caped girl, "arguing today."

Weiss placed a hand on her hip and shot an accusatory finger at Jaeger. "And who do you think you are?"

"His name is Jaeger Banzai, a member of one of the greatest teams to ever graduate from Beacon," piped a young girl. She was sitting down with a trio-candle holder in her hand—for some reason. She wore a black yukata and a bow on her head.

The other three girls gasped as they realized who the man standing in front of them was. They had only heard the stories of Jaeger Banzai, who had won at the Vytal Festival three times with two different teams.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, sir. I thought you were a student," apologized an embarrassed Weiss.

Jaeger chuckled in return. "Don't worry about it. I'm only 22, so its logical that you would think that I'm also a student just by looking at me. I'm here actually as a new teacher. Now, would somebody care to tell me why all-white and hood and cape keep bickering?"

Ruby's arm shot up before retracting it slowly when she remembered that they weren't in class. "I'm Ruby, by the way. Well anyway... the first time was because Weiss," she said while gesturing to the white-haired girl, "made me sneeze dust and blow up."

Jaeger nodded, content enough with the explanation for the crater.

"Second time, I was trying to make amends and be her friend, but she just started spouting disclaimer mumbo jumbo," Ruby explained. "Then, just now, she was fighting about how I'm a hazard to her health."

"I don't like how you antagonized me in all your explanations," said an annoyed Weiss.

Jaeger sighed again. "Look, Weiss, Ruby, blondie..."

"Yang."

"Right. Yang. I don't want you guys fighting before initiation has even happened. You guys clearly just got off on the wrong foot. So, Ruby, apologize for the explosion."

Ruby did as asked and shyly said sorry to Weiss.

"Now, Weiss, apologize for putting Ruby down and shouting at her. I'm sure she's a nice person. Also, you guys will HAVE TO put everything aside if you become partners tomorrow."

Weiss shuddered at the thought before reluctantly apologizing as well.

"Good, now, you," he said as he pointed to Blake, "I don't know why you have that candle holder in your hand, but I want you to put out the light once these three girls are in their sleeping bags and I'm back at my chair."

Blake nodded in response and Jaeger whirled around, walking over to his chair as he prepared for an excruciating eight hours of boredom and nothingness.

* * *

 **AN: You may have noticed some changes to the canon, such as the fact that the avenue is swarming with students instead of almost deserted in the anime when Weiss is shouting at Ruby.**

 **So, what did you think? Share your thoughts in a PM or review.**

 **I hope you continue to enjoy this fanfic.**

 **So long... partner.**


	2. Follow the Leader

**AN: Hey guys! bluhawk19 here, back with the second chapter of RWBY: Huntsmen and Huntresses! Thanks, first of all, for all the people who have reviewed and followed so far, as well as everyone who has read so far. I'm trying hard to get more out for you guys, and I'm hoping to keep improving my writing.**

 **So, anyway, read and enjoy! See you at the end of the chapter!**

* * *

The basically lifeless body of Jaeger struggled to drag himself into the cafeteria. His lacklustre eyes scanned the hall, homing in on the coffee machine that Ozpin was practically slurping straight out of. He rejoiced to himself that he was now a teacher and huntsman and not simply a student huntsman-in-training. Coffee was restricted to teachers and staff only, but students really had no need for it. After his torrid ordeal last night though, he would do anything for a cup of the "special brew" that Ozpin was never without. _I swear, the guy probably has a shower with a cup of coffee. Scratch that, he most likely showers in coffee. Can't blame him for it right now, though. I would probably have even killed Chane, Dax, Eve, or Raven, just to get a cup._

As soon as that thought had actually processed in his mind, he loathed its very existence. _I wouldn't have the opportunity to kill them even if I wanted to._ He held a forlorn look on his haggard face for about a minute before pushing down his anguish to the deep abyss that he had hidden it away in for so long.

Putting back on his lifeless face, he lugged himself over to the coffee dispenser, unknowingly shoving Ozpin into the approaching Professor Port. By the time that Jaeger had taken a few hearty gulps of the incredible concoction and realized that Ozpin wasn't at the machine, said principal was already dusting himself off and helping a coffee-drenched Port up from the floor.

"Sorry," said Jaeger emotionlessly. He could care less about Port right now. And Ozpin hadn't intervened when Goodwitch had nominated Jaeger for watch duty, so Ozpin could go inhale red dust for all he cared.

Today was the day of the initiation of the new recruits, and he would be one of the teachers standing by in case a student got into a life-threatening predicament. _Like when Raven almost got killed at our initiation and Dax just got there in time._

Jaeger finished off his third cup of coffee, and, after topping up again, he set off to get ready to leave for... wherever the initiation was this year. _As long as its not the mountain that we went to for ours. Too many Nevermore nests. If one of us tries to rescue a student, we'd probably draw the attention of another infernal Grimm mother._

"Why can't they ever do the induction at some beach or something. Let the teachers sleep or relax for once. I've only been at it for several hours and already I want to lock myself in my room and sleep. Would've been better if Raven were here..." mused Jaeger to himself as he stripped himself off for a much-needed, hot, relaxing shower.

* * *

After what he considered the best shower he ever had, Jaeger quickly cleaned his beloved axe, Virtus Incerno. Throwing on a fresh set of armour and strapping Virtus Incerno to his back, Jaeger sauntered out towards the landing decks, where both students and teachers had begun to congregate at. _Ah, Professor Professors Peach and Oobleck have finally arrived from whatever that thing was in Atlas that they were called to. Probably some science convention. Oobleck was always interested in how Grimm worked. But who cares what they were doing, the real problem is that they could've been on watch duty instead of me if they had been here. Whatever._

Jaeger joined the rest of his colleagues, welcoming back the two newly-arrived professors, as they prepared to take the new guys off to whatever deathtrap Ozpin had chosen this year. _Lets hope that no one gets into too much trouble, so I can rest. Pyhrra, at least, will definitely be OK. Just hoping that she doesn't get a team of degenerates and idiots._

* * *

Blake eyed the tall "teacher" with the giant axe with suspicion. _Why would he be here at Beacon, already taking up a teaching position. He said he was only 22, which means that he must have finished huntsman school last year. He should be off, doing some missions or whatever. Also, where is his team? I know that teams are only together for four years before they can go whatever route they want, but don't most teams stay together anyway? If there was a need for a new teacher here at Beacon, they wouldn't have called a newly graduated huntsman heading into his prime years. He's clearly a warrior who should be out in the field. It just doesn't make sense._ She continued her train of thought as the first bullheads began arriving to take them to the initiation location.

* * *

Jaeger raised his eyes slightly before plastering a huge grin on his face as he watched the bishoujo from last night, _Ruby or something like that_ , powering up a cliff face and decapitating a large nevermore. _Very impressive, Ruby. Most impressive. She could be good if on the same team as Pyhrra. In fact, if Pyhrra was her leader, Ruby could become as skilled as Raven or me. Granted, I did train Pyhrra, so it would make sense if Ruby got to our calibre. Anyway, they're done. Ozpin should be uploading the results and footage to my scroll, right... now. Alright, Blake and Yang, interesting combo. The most rambunctious girl around and the one who's spoken like three words so far. Heavy hitter and stealthy shadow. Just like Raven and I. Anyway, there's Cardin Winchester and Russel Thrush. Could be good. Don't know too much about them, but both look like they have some skill. Oh wow, Ruby and Weiss? Someone better stick with those two so that someone doesn't get decapitated like that nevermore. Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie? Interesting. This pairing's a bit like Yang and Blake. Hm, Nora uses a hammer like Dax's. Interesting. Wait, where's Pyhrra? Oh... no... No... NO! Who is this imbecile that she's paired up with? I told you, Pyhrra, if they're not adept enough, just don't make eye contact! Why couldn't you have been paired with Ruby or Weiss? That would have been better for everyone!_

* * *

The following day...

Jaeger's eyes scanned the paths to Beacon curiously as students began rushing out of their dorms to their first day of school. He'd have to head to Professor Port's class first. Port said something about possibly needing assistance with a potential danger, whatever that means...

As he strolled through the large front doors, Jaeger thought back to when he was a new student at Beacon. _Ha, if only my younger self had known what would happen to him and his teams... Ah, here's portly Port's class. Time to assist with this grave danger..._

* * *

"Monsters! Deeemons. Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names. But I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!" said Port in an over-joyous, over-self-indulgent voice. Jaeger and everyone else either stared blankly at him or just ignored him. _"Just hurry up with the story I know you're gonna tell..."_ shouted Jaeger in his mind.

"Ah... and you shall be to, upon graduating from this prestigious academy. Now as I was saying... Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world."

Jaeger smiled sadly to himself. _If only the students knew why I'm really here. Port wouldn't have to bother with such a blatant lie. Wait, did he just try to flirt with Yang? Paedo._

 _Oh great, he's drabbling on about some cabbage and a beowolf and exotic women or some trash like that. Probably another stupid "story" from his past._

Jaeger glanced around the room at the mostly unconscious class. Some were still awake but outright ignoring Port. Cardin and Russel were joking about some Faunus. Jaeger's eyes flared up when he noticed that, but he decided to leave it for now. He didn't want to make a scene in his first class as a "teaching assistant." Ruby was drawing something. Yang was trying to crane her neck to see what Blake was reading. Pyhrra and Weiss for some reason were still paying attention. _I told you before I left, Pyhrra. Port's stories give you NOTHING! Trust me, I was here for three years, listening to his tall tales. Anyway, it looks as if he's getting to the "dangerous" part. Time to actually exist in the class again._

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?" inquired Port to the class.

A furious-looking Weiss, who was jiggling like she was holding the floodgates closed, raised her hand furiously. _Is she raising her hand to ask to go to the toilet?_

"I do sir!" said Weiss firmly. Jaeger sighed with relief. OK _, good. 'Cause I don't want another of Port's rants about how education is good and missing even a second could result in death on the field._

Anyway, Weiss was off to change into her battle clothes. Jaeger only took momentary notice of this, as he was staring intently at the cage to the side of Port's desk that was now fiercely bouncing. By the time Weiss had returned, decked out in her all white battle gear, the cage was practically flying up and down. The white-haired girl put herself into her opening stance, just before Port raised a axe over the cage. Swinging it down, he broke the lock and chain, revealing a medium-sized Boarbatusk, which burst straight at Weiss. " _Class is finally worth playing attention to, kids,"_ thought Jaeger to himself.

He watched as the icy beauty dodged and sliced at the Boarbatusk, before making a charge that got her rapier caught in the Grimm's tusks. Her new leader was shouting encouragements and commands from the sidelines. One of those comments caught the attention of Weiss, allowing the Grimm to fling away Weiss' rapier, before slamming its tusk into her, knocking her to the ground. Jaeger straightened himself, ready to intervene. _Her rapier has dust cartridges as well. If needed, I could slide it back over to her._

She rolled out of the way of the Boarbatusk's latest charge, before sprinting over to her sword. She was about to charge, but Ruby once again began barking, prompting Weiss to shout at her to shut up. The young leader receded into her chair as Weiss readied herself for the Grimm now barrelling towards her. Using an attraction glyph to hold the Boarbatusk in place, she bounced off a repulsion glyph, plunging Myrternaster into the underside of the Grimm, which struggled for a few seconds before dissolving into the air.

Jaeger watched the heiress, though he didn't know her high status yet, as she huffed and left the classroom. Now that class was dismissed, he thought he should congratulate Weiss on her first victory. But before he could catch up with her, he heard fighting between the new victor and her leader. Jaeger listened closely as Weiss hurled insults at the young scythe-wielder. He was about to approach Ruby about what had just transpired, but, as per usual, Ozpin seemed to show up from out of nowhere to consult the youthful huntress-in-training first.

As the two began conversing, Jaeger followed Weiss from a distance, until she went up to port, who was on a balcony, and began talking about how she should have been leader of Team RWBY.

"That's preposterous!" retorted Port. Jaeger laughed heartily. _My thoughts exactly. You're a skilled fighter, Weiss, but an attitude like that won't get you any position of leadership or power. Trust me, I know certain people who in your situation._

As Weiss departed from Port, heading towards her room, Jaeger saw the first opportunity to do another thing that Ozpin had asked him to do: student counselling and mentoring. He once again followed from a distance, before knocking on her door. A now smiling Weiss opened the door, clearly deep in thought.

"Oh, hi, Mr. Banzai," said a surprised Weiss.

Jaeger chuckled heartily, "Please, I'm only five years older than you. Call me Jaeger."

"Oh, sorry. Hello Jaeger. Can I help you?"

"Well, um, I was in Port's class, and I overheard what happened with Ruby and Port afterwards." Weiss blushed a bit at that comment. "And I was hoping to talk to you, because, well, my team and I were in a situation just like yours."

"Really? OK, well, um, come in. You can sit down on one of the beds or whatever."

Jaeger smiled as he entered the... very... distinctly decorated room. _It looks like members of four opposing factions reside in here._

After the pair seated themselves on Weiss' bed, which was the one below Ruby's, Jaeger turned to Weiss. "Now, you know who I am, you've probably heard of some stuff that my team and I have done. But our team wasn't always the well-oiled machine that you know. I was only sixteen when I became leader of my team, and, well, it wasn't the easiest of starts. My friend, Eve, who was nineteen at the time, was a kind enough girl, but she definitely wasn't happy when I was appointed team leader. In fact, on our first mission together, she was almost killed by a Boarbatusk because she didn't want to follow my plan. Like you, she went to a teacher, Goodwitch, no less, to complain. But when she returned to our room afterwards, she told me that she would be the best follower and teammate possible. And she lived up to that promise.

You see, just because Ruby is younger and more immature, does not mean she can't be a great leader. You saw what she did at initiation. It was an ambitious and unorthodox plan, but it worked. You have to learn that, even if you don't like the person in charge, sticking together is better than fighting individually. Besides, even if she's a bit immature, she's just a kid. You were probably that way, too. And regardless of what she's like off the field, when she's out there, all that stuff is out the window. You see, with people like Ruby and I, we are two different people. No matter how crazy we get when not fighting, our minds switch into completely different gears when in the heat.

Learn to trust and follow Ruby. That way, not only will you become a great friend and follower, but she can become a great leader. A leader cannot be strong without great followers."

Weiss smiled, a single tear trickling down her face. _This guy is awesome. He's new here, he doesn't have to acknowledge our existence. But not only does he interact with us, he's actually helping us. He's sharing his experience with the younger hunters to help us get to his level._

She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a friendly hug. "Thank you, Jaeger. Port said some insightful things, but its different coming from a huntsman of my age. Its special to have someone who's been through what you're going through to talk to."

Jaeger smiled back as Weiss rested her head on his shoulder. _I did better than I thought I would with this talking thing._

Of course, that was the very moment that the rest of Team RWBY decided to enter their room. Yang's eyes locked in on the embracing duo, her mind immediately going all sorts of places. _I wouldn't mind being in that position._

"This isn't what it looks like! Jaeger just came to talk to me about following the leader!" shouted Weiss frantically.

Jaeger smirked at her comrades. "Too bad. You guys already missed the fun part," he winked at Weiss as he said that, heading straight out of the room before Weiss could retort.

Said heiress was turning completely red. The more dirty-minded Yang took this opportunity to further jab at Weiss, "So, is he into having multiple girls? 'Cause I would like a piece of that cake you had while we were gone."

"YANG!" boomed both Ruby and Weiss furiously. But while the Schnee heiress despised the chaos that he had cooked up, she inwardly thanked Jaeger and Port for setting her course straight. She was adamant to become the greatest follower and teammate ever. Of course, that was all on the inside. Her outside self grabbed Myrternaster, giving chase to the buxom blonde.

"I'll gouge out your eyes, you pervert!"

* * *

 **AN:** **Yep, so Jaeger and Weiss had some one-to-one time! As you may have noticed, I'm not following the canon exactly. Later in the day, Weiss does confront Ruby when Black and Yang are asleep, just like in the anime. There will be more divergences, but for the most part, I will try to keep to the canon as much as possible.**

 **So yeah, anyway, there might be further development of the relationship between Jaeger and Weiss. Definitely, he becomes close with all of Team RWBY, but he might also end up with a certain character, who I'm not gonna mention, unless someone shows some cash...**

 **Also, I tried hinting to Jaeger's past, but I had him use only certain parts of it, so that it doesn't come off as darker... yet. Certain things will happen that completely change the way his past is viewed. So keep following and reviewing. If you guys have any comments or criticisms, spew 'em out! I want to make this fanfic better in every way possible. Until next time, this is bluhawk19, jetting off!**


	3. Down with the Duel

**AN: Hey guys! How's your day been? Of course, you can't actually tell me. Well, you could PM or tell me in a review, but I'm sure you guys wouldn't actually tell me about your personal life. I'm just some random bub at a laptop.**

 **Anyway, just in case you guys were wondering, Jaeger's axe looks something like this:**

 **goo. gl / oBU4GQ (remove the spaces)**

 **But instead of the black in the blade, it's red. Also, blades are a lot bigger, while the spike at the top isn't. And instead of the design on the blades, it has Virtus inscribed around the edge of left blade, and Incerno inscribed on the edge of the right blade.**

 **So, if you guys have anyway questions or anything else to state, ask or state away. If not, then read on and enjoy!**

* * *

Glynda Goodwitch surveyed the class, sitting in the shadowed portion of the training arena. The students looked either tentative or raring to go. _They're probably expecting to go head-to-head with each other. My, my, are they going to be in for a surprise._ "Today, for your first combat class, your skills will be evaluated. Your skills with weapons, hand-to-hand combat, tactics, and semblances will be put to the test today. That is why I have asked a huntsman to be your opponent today." At this mention, Jaeger stepped out of the shadows, taking his place in the spotlight next to Goodwitch. He was clad in his regular all-black kevlar armour, as well as light combat boots. Many students noticed that while the test was partially on their weapons skills, their opponent himself appeared to have no weapon. Students like Team RWBY immediately noticed the absence of his axe, which they had become used to in the few days that the group and the young huntsman had been friends.

"Some of you have heard of, or even made friends with, Mr. Jaeger Banzai." At the mention of the young, esteemed huntsman's name, a collective gasp ran through the student body. Only Team RWBY and Pyrrha failed to gawk at the presence of such a famed graduate of Beacon. Most had heard about the leader of one of the greatest teams to ever emerge from Beacon or any other school like it, but the members of Team CREJ (Courage) weren't ones for the limelight. Well, except for Raven...

Goodwitch waited for the audience to quiet down before continuing, "Mr. Banzai will test your various strengths and weaknesses. While each of you have combat profiles, those who take on Mr. Banzai today will have their evaluations applied to their learning paths this year. Those who take on our young huntsman will then be trained to strengthen their strengths and lessen their weaknesses. Oh, by the way, some of you may have noticed that Mr. Banzai has no weapon. He has reserved the right to use his weapon until he deems necessary. He will, however, be able to fight in any way he wants, as well as use his semblance. In light of this, who would like to take him on first?"

A cocky smile arose from the shadows of the audience, as did a confident hand. "I'll take him on," said Cardin Winchester smugly, brandishing his mace menacingly. Jaeger stood confidently in his place, smirking at the young huntsman-in-training's naivete.

Cardin came down the steps and dropped into his opening battle stance. His opponent, however, shoved his hands in his pockets, looking very calm and unconcerned about the impending clash.

Glynda raised her riding crop, before whipping it down. "Begin!"

Looking to draw first blood, Cardin powered straight forward, holding his mace in his outstretched right arm. Jaeger sidestepped him, but Cardin anticipated this, pirouetting with his mace in both extended arms. Leaning backwards, the mace swung within an inch of Jaeger's face. The older huntsman then flung out his legs towards Cardin's, sending the youth sprawling, and his mace flying to the other end of the arena.

Jaeger, being the teacher, allowed his student to gather himself together and collect his mace. Cardin resumed a relentless barrage of swings, both vertical and horizontal. Each time, the mace came to within an inch of the Beacon graduate's face and torso, but he just kept slipping away calmly. The two danced away, Jaeger ducking, rolling, and leaping out of Cardin's powerful blows. Every now and then, Cardin would slam his mace into the floor, sending chunks of concrete flying into the air.

Eventually Cardin began to tire, breaking his rhythm, and Jaeger pounced with blinding speed. A single kick sent the swinging mace out of Cardin's grasp. Once again, Jaeger dropped down, knocking the legs out from under Cardin. In what seemed like a single second, Jaeger had grabbed Cardin's mace and had it hovering menacingly over younger opponent's nether regions.

The boy on the floor immediately held his hands up. "I surrender! Please, please, just stop!"

Jaeger smirked at Cardin before plopping his mace down on the ground next to him. Everyone else's gazes, though, were on the large screen on the wall opposite the audience. Even Glynda Goodwitch stared up in surprise. The screen, used to display the aura levels of combatants, read 100% for both Jaeger and Cardin.

Even though Jaeger could have easily taken out Cardin at anytime, and even though Cardin could have hospitalized Jaeger with a single well-placed blow, both had somehow taken no damage at all.

Glynda loudly cleared her throat, catching the attention of all the students as well as Jaeger. "Well, that was... very insightful. Mr. Banzai managed to stay out of Cardin's reach, tiring him before disarming his opponent. Even though Cardin has a lot of strength, he just went in swinging and didn't think of a proper approach. Maybe next time, Mr. Winchester will have a more tactical approach." With this, Cardin grabbed his mace and took his seat again.

"Well, we have time for another match or two. Who would like to go next?" inquired Glynda of her students.

A certain white-haired heiress shot out of her seat, stoked to take on the apparent genius who had beaten one of the heaviest hitters in the school with such ease. Without feeling the need to nominate herself verbally, Weiss strode down the stairs, drawing Myrternaster and dropping into her opening stance. This time around, Jaeger also readied himself, going into a boxing-like stance.

Once again, Glynda signalled the beginning of the match with her riding crop. "Begin!"

Having seen what happened in the preceding match-up, Weiss took a couple of seconds to evaluate her opponent. Seeing that Jaeger wasn't going to budge, Weiss fired up a repulsion glyph, flying towards Jaeger with Myrternaster leading the charge.

Jaeger rolled out of the way of Weiss' rapid approach. The white-haired girl responded to her failed strike by switching to a red dust cartridge, setting Myrternaster ablaze. She went into fencing mode, sending a barrage of stabs flying at Jaeger. While he dodged most of these strikes, Weiss had superior speed, and managed to cut off a couple strands of Jaeger's hair.

The older huntsman narrowed his eyes at his white-clad friend. _My hair, Weiss. MY HAIR! You know I don't like people ruining my hairstyle!_

He masked his anger though, putting on an unfazed guise. Jaeger ducked under one of Weiss' onrushing strikes. Seeing an opening, he elbowed the arm holding Myrternaster out of the way, before using that same elbow to strike the underside of Weiss head, sending her flying backwards. Weaponless, Weiss decided to take Jaeger on in hand-to-hand-combat.

She slid on the floor towards him, attempting to knock the legs out from under him. Jaeger hopped over his approaching friend, but she reacted quickly. Weiss took hold of one of Jaeger's legs, bringing him down to the floor with her. The more experienced man rapidly wrested his leg from Weiss' grasp, before back-flipping onto his feet.

Imitating him, Weiss spun into the air, sending an arcing kick towards her opponent's head. Jaeger stepped to the right, grabbing her outstretched leg and throwing her towards the audience-side of the arena.

The heiress was quick to think, however, and took Jaeger's move in her stride, using a drop-and-roll to stop her momentum.

Jaeger charged toward her, engaging Weiss in trading strikes and blocks. Jaeger landed a light punch to her face, and she retaliated with a hook to his right shoulder. Weiss tried to use Jaeger's much superior height to her advantage, attempting to elbow Jaeger's jaw just like what Jaeger had done to her earlier.

Her target, however, was quick to react, catching her hand with his left hand, before grabbing her other arm with his left hand. Weiss tried to struggle out of his grasp, but Jaeger was clearly the stronger of the pair. He followed that up by knocking the legs out from under Weiss, sending her crashing to the ground.

Weiss managed to soften the blow by dropping and rolling again, coming close enough to Myrternaster to snatch it up. Wanting to finish off the match quickly, she laid a barrage of strikes on Jaeger, sending them towards his limbs and head.

Jaeger's inferior speed gifted Weiss a clear opportunity. She sent Myrternaster flying straight at his left shoulder. Not having enough time to react, Jaeger decided to reveal his biggest trump card, his semblance.

Out of nowhere, the red dust chamber of the rapier flew out of its place, exploding right in Weiss' face. Involuntarily retracting her weapon, Weiss went backwards, reeling from the unexpected explosion.

Jaeger stretched out his hand, displaying nothing. A puzzled Weiss stood there for two seconds before realizing that Myrternaster was being wrested from her grasp by some invisible force.

In the audience, Pyrrha smiled knowingly as Weiss frantically used both hands to try to keep hold of her rapier, being successful for a couple of seconds before it flew towards Jaeger. As it approached him, it slowed and rotated, landing the hilt in his outstretched palm.

The huntsman smiled as rushed towards the startled Weiss, spinning rapidly around her to her back, pulling towards him by the waist with one hand, while placing Myrternaster dangerously close to her neck with the other.

The jolted Weiss tried frantically to catch her breath, just managing to gasp out her surrender. She then blushed furiously as she noticed her incredibly close proximity to Jaeger. Said huntsman finally released her, allowing her to catch her breath.

Weiss revolved around to face Jaeger. "What happened? Did you do that?" said Weiss in between breaths. Her voice, however, wasn't accusatory or angry, but full of awe and curiosity, something that the heiress had come to show a lot when conversing with Jaeger.

Jaeger smiled at his friend's curiosity. "Dust manipulation. Its my semblance. I can move dust, blow it up, shape it. That also basically gives me control over whatever contains dust. You might even get a special surprise in my next match." Jaeger winked at his white-haired friend, who blushed crimson again.

Glancing over at her team, she noticed the perverted smile of Yang that she had gotten used to. Clearly, Yang had been having the same thoughts as Weiss. The blonde shot the shorter girl a knowing wink and smirk, with the heiress shooting back a glare that Goodwitch would've been proud of.

Ruby, on the other hand, was struggling unsuccessfully to keep her joy and excitement over the just-finished fight bottled in. Blake, as per usual, had no show of excitement on her face.

Before seating herself, Weiss took a look at the screen displaying aura levels. Her jaw dropped as she realized that while her level was at 73%, Jaeger's was still at 100%. _But... but I did almost as much damage as he did! How does he walk away unscathed?!_

"You're so awesome!" squealed Ruby loudly to Jaeger.

* * *

"Alright, everyone quiet down," commanded Glynda to the student body, who all heeded the stern teacher's orders without complaint. "We have time for one more match. Who would like to take it up?"

While the rest of the audience looked on in fear, one red-headed beauty stood up confidently. As she walked down the stairs, the Spartan went through her innumerable sparring sessions with her new opponent, the man she had grown up with.

She tried to remember the way he would make his strokes, the way he would dodge, his tricks with his semblance, anything. She struggled to remember more than a few moves and counters that would give her the upper hand, however.

They hadn't sparred in a year. They may have grown more apart after... after what had happened to Team CREJ, but to Pyrrha, Jaeger was still her best friend. And she was determined to bring their relationship back from just a friendship to a... best... friendship.

But first, she had to attempt to stay conscious against him, and she would have to seriously try, because she was adamant that Jaeger would not hold back the way he had against Cardin and Weiss.

And her thought process was confirmed as Jaeger walked out of the room, returning promptly with his axe, Virtus Incerno, as well as an all-black utility belt, to which were attached black vials. The other students' eyes widened. This was seriously going down.

* * *

Both dropped into their respective opening stances. Glynda stepped in between the two competitors, signalling the beginning of the clash, before receding to her place below the screen displaying their aura levels.

The audience watched with bated breath as the two locked eyes, waiting for any kind of tell of their opening move. That move was made by Pyrrha, who powered forward. She rushed toward Jaeger with Akoúo in front of her. Jaeger batted away the shield with Virtus Incerno, before also knocking away Miló.

With both her spear and weapon on either side of Pyrrha, Jaeger raised his axe above his head, crashing it down towards her. The Spartan, however, had rapid reflexes, and flipped backwards, allowing Virtus Incerno to crash into the ground she had just stood on.

Pyrrha threw Akoúo at Jaeger's "lower parts" with stunning speed and precision, forcing Jaeger to leap over the shield, which got lodged into the wall behind him. Pyrrha pounced again rapidly without missing a beat, lunging Miló at Jaeger's head. The huntsman spun out of the way, adding the momentum he gained from that spin to a throw of the axe at Pyrrha. She recognized the move, and instinctively leaning back heavily, allowing Virtus Incerno to pass harmlessly over her.

Jaeger had anticipated this, however, and stretching, his arm out, used his semblance to retrieve his weapon by its dust-laced shaft. The axe whirled towards the back of Pyrrha's head.

Noticing that her friend's arm was outstretched, she dropped to the ground and rolled to the audience side of the arena. Jaeger was fast to react, moving his arm accordingly to send Virtus Incerno whizzing at Pyrrha again.

For around half-a-minute, this chase of axe and girl continued, with Pyrrha frantically looking for a opening. As she approached Akoúo again, an idea came to her. She leapt onto the shield, simultaneously bouncing up by using it as a trampoline and hefting the shield out of the wall, deflecting the whirling Virtus Incerno just in time.

She pounded it into the ground with Akoúo before Jaeger could telekinetically swipe at her legs. While in the air, she launched Miló at Jaeger with tremendous speed. Even though he was several feet away, Jaeger had to struggle to lean back in time to dodge the spear.

While Jaeger dodged the spear, Pyrrha grabbed his axe from out of the floor and powered at him with blinding speed. Jaeger dropped and slid toward Miló, picking it up just in time to block a powerful swing by Pyrrha.

While the duo now had each other's weapons, they both realized that they were too close to use their semblances to retrieve their own weapons. They had to contend with using each other's for now, which they had thankfully practised quite a bit already.

Both took a moment to wipe the sweat from their foreheads, before resuming their meleé. The metal of Miló clanged on the non-magnetic metal of Virtus Incerno, locking the spear in between the blades of the axe. Using the opportunity of the interlocked weapons, Pyrrha swung her shield at Jaeger's legs.

The huntsman leaped up into the air and off the shield, using his backwards momentum to pull Miló from the clutches of his axe, which was still in the possession of Pyrrha. Said warrior moved quickly, swinging Virtus Incerno in an X at Jaeger before landing a solid blow to his head with her shield.

With the slightly dazed Jaeger reeling backwards, Pyrrha moved to enhance her advantage. She flung her shield at the wall behind Jaeger, while simultaneously charging at him with axe in hand. Her speed matched the speed of Akoúo, which had ricocheted off the wall and was now also on a collision course with Jaeger.

Pyhrra was heading for the lower midsection, while her shield throttled toward Jaeger's head, essentially stopping him jumping up or dropping down. He also couldn't sidestep or roll to the side because he knew that she would either swing at him with Virtus Incerno or fling Akoúo with her semblance.

Jaeger beamed at his friend's plan, knowing that he had partly been responsible for her great tactical skill. She had been smart enough to force him to use his secret weapons. _Smart girl. Showing exactly why she should be the leader of Team JNPR. Anyway, let's hope that Ironwood doesn't recruit her after she graduates._

Reaching rapidly to his utility belt, he pulled out a couple of vials. He smashed them on the floor, releasing clouds of red dust. Everyone's visibility of the combatants was obstructed as the large red cloud of dust billowed around the pair.

Suddenly, the figure of Pyrrha rocketed out of the cloud, her body slamming into the wall, with Miló and Akoúo following suit soon after. She managed to get out of her daze in time to see the cloud on the other side of the arena receding. It swirled and swirled before dissipating, leaving a figure with a billowing black cape and hood with an on-fire axe in hand. The intimidating figure lifted his head, confirming to those who weren't sure that it was Jaeger that it was actually the huntsman himself.

His clothes billowed even more as red streaks lit up across his armour. Realizing what was about to happen, Pyrrha tried a desperate last ditch attempt at winning by hurling her spear at Jaeger's chest. Instead of dodging like previous times, however, he lifted his arm in front of his torso.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he channelled his aura to its intended destination. The students, even Cardin, gasped and held their breath as the spear hurtled towards Jaeger's arm. Ruby looked as if she was about to cry. _If its powerful enough, Pyrrha's spear could go through Jaeger's arm and into his chest. WHAT IS HE DOING?!_

Both Pyrrha and Jaeger glanced towards the audience, before meeting each other's gazes with knowing smiles. The hearts of the onlookers beat even faster as the spear came to within striking distance of Jaeger. Time seemed to slow as it came to within two inches... one inch... its touching...

The collective jaws of the student body dropped and their bated breath was released as they saw the spear strike Jaeger's arm and... glance off it.

"I surrender," stated Pyrrha, almost falling to the floor in laughter at the shell-shocked expressions of her fellow students. Jaeger was also having a hearty laugh. He loved shocking people with the stuff hunters could do. Even Goodwitch was chuckling at her stunned pupils.

Glynda quickly glanced over at the aura levels of Jaeger and Pyrrha, which read 84% and 61% respectively, before she decided to take the opportunity to inform them of what had just transpired, "Well, students, what Mr. Jaeger just displayed, was a technique called aura channelling. One trained in this art can cause a large amount of aura to surge to one location, such as Mr. Banzai's arm. This tremendous amount of aura in one area could block even the strongest of weapons if the hunter had strong enough aura. For example, he could have blocked a blow from Mr. Winchester earlier, if he so desired. Don't worry, you'll eventually get to this, although I'm sure certain students may already know this art." Glynda glanced knowingly at Pyrrha, who in turn smiled at Jaeger.

"Anywho, class is dismissed. Cardin, Weiss, Pyrrha, take into account your clash with Jaeger. Be sure that it will improve your combat."

* * *

"That... was... so... awesome!" squealed Ruby to Jaeger. By now, the huntsman had gotten used to over-fangirlish praise from Team RWBY's leader.

"I have to admit, that was very impressive, Jaeger," stated Blake to Jaeger. Her four companions raised their eyebrows, all thinking the same thing. _Is it just me, or did Blake sound... impressed?_

Blake smiled at her teammates and Jaeger, knowing exactly what they were all thinking. "Hey, what girl wouldn't be impressed by a hot guy with sweat all over him while he gives the best fighting performance you've ever seen." Blake winked seductively at Jaeger before sauntering off, making sure to add emphasis to her swaying hips.

Jaeger's jaw, meanwhile, had swung wide open. He came to his senses before commenting, "She's spent way too much time with you, Yang."

The other three girls, including Yang, all nodded in agreement and laughed before going off to chase "Yangified" Blake.

* * *

 **AN: I wasn't too sure how to end this. If you didn't like the ending of this chapter, please say. As always, reviews are always appreciated, because they make this fanfic better.**

 **So anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed that. If you were wondering, this is not a rewrite of the beginning of Vol. 1 Episode 11- Jaunedice. This takes place in between that episode and the previous one, Vol. 1 Episode 10- The Badge and the Burden 2.**

 **I hope you guys liked the fights. I'm trying to improve my writing of combat, which used to be awful. Once again, if you guys have any tips or criticisms, please feel free to share them. They'd be much appreciated.**

 **Alright, so next up: Ruby's birthday! I hope you guys enjoy what I'm cooking up! It should be posted some time tomorrow (Its exactly 2200 hours here in Britain).**

 **Until next time, may the force be with you!**


	4. Sixteen Roses

**AN: Hey guys! I hope that you're having a good day so far. Welcome back to chapter 4! By the way, I'm thinking of changing the title of this fanfic. I was never a big fan of the one I currently have. I'm trying to choose one that encapsulates this fanfic properly, but doesn't give too much away.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. There's a part where Nora has her usual speedy speech, and I hope I got it right. If you think there's any missing punctuation in that part, it's deliberate.**

 **Okay, so remember that italics mean thoughts. Read and enjoy!**

* * *

Jaeger sighed in annoyance. From his perch on the stairs, he scanned the first floor of the Biblio Shoppe for the fifth time in the past twenty minutes. Yet again, that specific black bow was no where to be found. His eyes skipped from aisle to aisle, hoping to locate any sign of his quiet friend. _Where are you, Blake?_

The duo had come to the Biblio Shoppe to look for a present for Ruby's 16th birthday. While Yang bounded off to some random clothing stores, and Weiss to an incredibly expensive-looking jewellery store, which Jaeger swore had diamond floor tiles, said huntsman—trading his kevlar armour for navy blue jeans and a deep crimson Sanctum Academy t-shirt—and Blake decided to plump for a book as their presents.

Unfortunately, Jaeger's oh-so-sunny companion disappeared the moment they had entered the shop. _Seriously, she's a phantom. I've checked every floor at least four times. Oh my days, if she's already left, I swear I will give her decapitated head to Ruby as a gift._

Deciding to forget Blake for the time being and just focus on getting a gift for his youngest friend at Beacon, Jaeger began to wander aimlessly through the aisles. His gaze bobbed up and down the various bookshelves, hoping that something would draw his eye.

 _Would she like a anything from the children's section. Hm... nah, she's a big girl, and "drinks milk", as she would say. Some sort of YA novel, maybe?_

The young huntsman strolled over to the young adult fiction section, hoping that something would catch his eye.

 _Royal Battle... sounds stupid... Convergent... hm... nope, looks too dystopian sci-fi for Ruby... What kind of a name is this? Who names a book The Maze Crawler?_

Failing to find anything interesting, Jaeger decided to go back to wandering the aisles until something interesting posed itself. As he entered the mature adult section, he remembered a book that Raven used to read.

 _What was it? Something to do with romance and ninjas... I remember her telling me to try reading it. I told her that I would, just to brush her off. But now that she's gone, I might actually fulfil my "promise."_

He scanned the shelves, looking for his partner's specific choice of book. Looking for titles starting with Ninja, he knew that just seeing the book would most likely jog his memory.

As he passively glanced into one of the adult aisles, a certain familiar bow caught his eye. _Finally, I've found her!_

He was about to rant about his annoyance to her, when he noticed how intently she was searching the bookshelves. Taken with curiosity on why the black-bowed girl was clearly looking for a specific book in the adult section, Jaeger slid behind the bookshelf which was itself to the back of Blake. From behind there, he split a pack of books, observing the peculiar scene through the small gap he had created. Not wanting to look suspicious, he grabbed a random book from the shelf and opened up to a random page, pretending to passively read through.

All of a sudden, her whole body froze up, and even more curiously, her bow twitched slightly. Blake glanced worriedly to her left and right, before plucking a book out of its place on the shelf. She glanced left and right again before scanning the blurb.

Jaeger raised an eyebrow as a jubilant grin plastered itself on the face of the huntress-in-training. He watched as the young huntress pulled out a few bills of Lien from her pocket, her gaze flitting between the cash and the book, her once gleeful smile morphing into an irritated scowl.

Blake sighed sadly, the scowl turning to a sorrowful frown. She replaced the book on the shelf, before wandering through the aisles to dust knows where.

After placing the book he was holding back in its spot, Jaeger moved over to see what had caught the interest of Blake so strongly. What he found was a book called Ninjas of Love Volume 2. Memories flooded into his mind as he realized that Blake was interested in the sequel to his partner's favourite book.

Jaeger laughed to himself. _Raven would torture me to force me to get his for her... No, she would simply strangle me with some rope, or dangle me above a beowolf pen._

His thoughts were interrupted as he remembered the sorrowful look on Blake's face.

 _She probably couldn't afford it. Hm..._

* * *

Jaeger had tried to find her in Biblio Shoppe, but she had vanished once again. Guessing that she had already bought a book for Ruby and that she had forgotten about her companion, he decided to depart for Beacon.

As Jaeger boarded an airship transport to Beacon, he frowned as he thought about Blake forgetting about him. He had already built some rapport with the other three members of Team RWBY in the two weeks he had been teaching at Beacon.

Through becoming their mentor, Jaeger had become friends with Ruby and Weiss. They had only known him for a fortnight, and already they came to him for advice, as well as to simply hang out. Through becoming a sparring partner for Yang, he had also developed a friendship with her.

 _Though I could use less of her flirting. She clearly knows that my resolve is cracking. Crafty little seductive huntress._

But with Blake, he had no real ground. He would greet her warmly in the mornings, and she would passively greet him back. They would spar without any conversation. She knew almost nothing about him, and he knew absolutely nothing about her. The duo were more like a friend of a friend to each other. He hoped, however, that his gift would change that.

As the aircraft approached, the huntsman spotted the girl in question strolling through the plaza of Beacon. Jaeger hopped off the airship, not waiting for touchdown, as the transport was still several inches off the ground. He knew how the girl could disappear in the blink of an eye, so he tried to catch up to her as rapidly as possible.

 _I better not wait until Ruby's party to give this to Blake. People might start talking if someone finds it in my possession._

"Hey, Blake! Blake!" shouted Jaeger as he tried to flag down his peculiar acquaintance. The faunus girl—although of course no one knew about her heritage yet—turned her head slowly as she heard the faint sound of her name from behind her.

A tinge of regret came over her as she realized that she had left the young huntsman at Biblio Shoppe. Jaeger had probably spent the whole time looking for her, and she just departed and left him there.

"I'm so sorry, Jaeger. I completely forgot. Its just that I... I..." stammered Blake as she tried to find an excuse. Jaeger just smiled at her genuine regret and shushed her with a finger to her lips. _Aw, she does care!_

"Don't worry. I'm fine. I, um, I saw you earlier, actually, and I saw what happened, and I, well, I decided to get you a gift," replied Jaeger as he passed the previously hidden plastic bag to Blake.

Blake raised her eyebrows as she apprehensively took hold of the bag. "You didn't have to get me anyth..." her speech trailed off as she realized what was in the bag.

 _Ninjas of Love Volume 2! What in the dust?!_

"I saw you with it earlier, and I figured that you didn't buy it because you didn't have enough money for both this book and Ruby's present. So, I decided to get it for you," explained Jaeger as Blake struggled to find any words to say.

 _I should be angry that he was watching me. Maybe this is a prank on me. I mean, I hardly even know this guy. We're not friends, so why did he sacrifice so much his money and even risk possible embarrassment to get me this._

"W-w-why? Why do this for me?" inquired Blake, still completely baffled by why someone who was simply a minor acquaintance would do something so massive for her.

Jaeger smirked at her. "Well, its hard not to help out a friend, especially when she's a gorgeous girl like yourself," he said with a flirtatious tone.

Blake blushed furiously. In their few interactions, Jaeger had often commented on her attractiveness, and every single time, her cheeks would flush deep crimson.

To save her from further embarrassment, Jaeger decided to change the subject, "By the way, if you're wondering if this is a joke or a prank, its not. And I won't make fun of your choice of reading material. In fact, my former partner was a massive fan of the first one, and she used to attempt to persuade me to read it. I decided to follow up on her request so..." Jaeger drew the first volume of Ninjas of Love out of his bag, "... I guess I'm your new 'book buddy' or whatever."

The red receded from Blake's cheeks as her face transformed into a faint smile. It felt good to know that there was someone who not only refused to mock her for her choice of reading, but also took interest in it. Blake had long grown tired of her own partner's constant teasing.

She gestured for Jaeger to sit down with her on a bench. "You called me a friend. Why? We hardly even know each other?"

"Yeah, but I would like to get to know you better. Its good to make friends, and you seem to be good friends with Ruby, Yang, and Weiss, even if you don't show it often. Any friend of theirs is a friend of mine. Also, you remind me of some people I used to know."

"So, this team of yours... Where are they? I've been wondering about that since we first met you."

A grimace appeared on Jaeger's face. Blake was the person he knew least, and yet she was the first to try and actually dig up his team's history. But he didn't have to tell everything... "Yeah, my team... They're... they're not around anymore."

Another wave of regret hit Blake as she frantically apologized, "I'm sorry. I thought you were just taking time off... or... something..."

"No, its fine. I got over their deaths a long time ago. Its just hard sometimes to know that I exist in a world that they don't."

"Sorry, I'm not brushed up on your past, so forgive me if I'm a bit oblivious, but, um, were you close to them?"

Jaeger's sad smile turned into a happy one as he opened a certain floodgate in his memory, "They were my family. Raven, my partner, was my best friend. She was a lot like Yang. Teasing, mischievous, and crafty. But she had her heart in the right place, and she would defend her friends and her kingdom to the death.

Then there was Chane. She... she was my girlfriend, as some might call it. When she started out at Beacon, she was a lot like you. Quiet, reserved, but very intelligent and observant. I was her first friend, and she clung endlessly to me. That's how we grew so close. She was so afraid of getting close to any who wasn't me.

But eventually, I convinced her to try to at least make friends with the rest of our team, and she gradually became more outgoing. She started out by getting to know Raven and her own partner, Eve. Eventually, she became somewhat of a queen bee at Beacon. The shyest kid had become the most popular one. How ironic."

Blake smiled at this man who hardly knew her, but revealed to her a whole lot of memories that were probably really painful to remember.

Suddenly remembering Ruby's party, Blake suggested that they part ways and get ready. She grabbed her stuff and was about to depart from her new friend when she noticed how wide Jaeger's eyes had grown.

A sudden realization dawned on Blake, "You forgot to buy her a present, didn't you?"

The frantic Jaeger ran a hand through his hair as he realized his gigantic memory blip. He ran his mind through all the possible places he could go to get a gift for Ruby, but a quick glance at his scroll told him that simply travelling back and forth between Beacon and the town would make him late for the party.

"I'll look for something in my room. Don't worry about me, Blake. I'll see you there!" shouted Jaeger as he sprinted off to shower, get dressed, and try to sift through his stuff for a present to give Ruby.

Blake smiled, happy that she had gained a new friend that day, and a seemingly great friend at that.

* * *

Around huntsman knocked on the door of Team RWBY's room. His new friend, Blake, greeted him at the door. She beckoned him into the room, currently populated by Jaeger, Blake, Weiss, Yang, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora.

"Hey, Blake, how did you distract Ruby?" asked Jaeger as he entered.

Out of nowhere popped Nora, who stuck her face way too close to Jaeger for comfort. "HEEEEYYY! You're that awesome huntsman who's our teacher now! Anyway back to your question I am responsible for the fact that Ruby isn't here you see I kinda had this massive jar of maple syrup 'cause I made these massive pancakes and me and Ren,"

"Ren and I," corrected Ren.

"Yeah yeah yeah anyway me and Ren were together, but not like together together, taking over the jar of syrup to the forest at the back of the school when Ruby came whizzing past with her Semblance and smashed face-first into the pile of massive pancakes. She ended up in like the centre of the pile before she was slowed down. I offered that Ren and I eat our way to her but Ruby insisted that she do it herself."

Jaeger raised his eyebrow inquisitively, "Then what does the jar syrup have to do with the story?"

"Nothing! Who gave you the idea that the syrup is the reason that Ruby isn't here?" asked an equally puzzled Nora.

"You did! You opened the story with 'this massive jar of maple syrup' so I kinda assumed that it would play a role in the whole thing."

"Sorry Jaeger, you get used to this kind of storytelling with Nora. Its all over the place, usually," apologized the conservative Ren on behalf of his boisterous friend.

The recipient nodded in understanding before going off to talk to someone normal instead. Blake, one of the three more grounded students in the room, was cautiously reading in her bed, which was the one above Yang's. Jaeger smirked as he realized that the cover of the book read 'Guide to Growing Strawberries'. _Clearly not the actual book she's reading. She's probably reading that Ninjas of Love book. Speaking of which, I should actually start my copy, see what all Raven's fuss was about and why Blake was so overwhelmed to get the sequel._

The second normal student was of course Ren, who was currently trying to get Nora off her perch on top of his head. Jaeger homed in on the third down-to-earth pupil in the room, Pyrrha, whom he had started to get closer to again.

He seriously regretted pulling away from his friends after the deaths of his team. He realized that he wasn't the only one hurting, and that his pain and subsequent regression from his friends also gave others pain. Jaeger, however, was now determined to make amends.

"What's up?" he asked in a friendly tone as he slung an arm over Pyrrha's shoulder. Said Spartan smiled contently. She had long missed this closer kind of friendship that was starting to resurface.

"Oh, nothing. There is, however, something that I'm interested in. I was talking to Blake before you arrived. She told me about the 'one-to-one' talk that you two had," said Pyrrha with a mischievous glint in her eye.

Her best friend narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't insinuate anything, Pyr. You know it's inappropriate to talk about a teacher-student relationship. Besides, while she's attractive and all, she's not someone I'm interested in like that," he scolded, although there was also a playful look in his eyes.

"You're only just over two years older than us, Jaeger. Don't let your fake age make you forget your real one," whispered Pyrrha, bringing back to mind the fact that Jaeger was actually 20 years of age and not 22. "Besides, as you said, she's attractive, and she's intelligent, and I would definitely approve of you two. Also, you've already told her about Chane. That is getting serious with her, Jaeger." Pyrrha grinned widely, ecstatic that they were getting back into the kind of relationship where they would tease each other like this. _I'm the one going in for the kill this time, Jaeger._

Jaeger gave her a cocky smirk as he countered, "By your standards, I should be dating you. You're brilliant and beautiful. And I've done more than simply tell you about Chane. She was your friend too."

The huntsman gave a deep but hearty laugh as he savoured the fidgeting and blushing mess that Pyrrha had become. He knew that Pyrrha had previously thought about the possibility of something more than simply close friendship between them, but that had been before and then after Chane.

While he had pushed her away after Chane's death, at that moment, he actually realized that there was a very real possibility her feelings being reciprocated.

Jaeger's thoughts were interrupted as realized a major flaw in Yang's plan which had somehow gone unfixed. "Who's looking out for Ruby?"

His realization came too late, as the girl in question blasted through the door seconds after the words had left his mouth. She skidded to a stop when she realized that Team RWBY weren't the only ones present, and her eyes grew to the size of large plates as it dawned on her what was going on.

"Surprise!" yelled everyone a little unenthusiastically, except for Nora, who for some reason was hanging upside down from the light in the ceiling.

Yang quickly got over the complete collapse of her plan as she rushed to greet her younger sister.

"Aw, I'm so proud of you! You're finally sixteen!" exclaimed an ecstatic Yang while giving her sister a bone-crushing hug.

Jaeger managed to force Yang to release Ruby before flashing a grin and giving said exasperated scythe-wielder a much lighter, albeit still friendly, hug. "You know, Ruby, since you're sixteen now, you're legally allowed to marry. Any plans on the horizon?" teased the huntsman, knowing that Ruby would fall into a hilarious embarrassed mess that he had come to love to trigger. Another common ground that he and Yang had.

"HEY EVERYONE! As the hostess today, I think we should give Ruby our gifts before eating," said a very bubbly Yang. Jaeger knew that she didn't care what anyone else's gifts were, she was just stoked to see the look on her baby sister's face when she saw Yang's present.

The confirmation of his suspicions came immediately as the blonde yelled "ME FIRST!" before zooming to her bed and back to Ruby, returning with gift in hand.

Yang stuck into Ruby's hands a scarlet red cubic box with a ridiculously neon yellow ribbon and bow. The birthday girl eyed the large box suspiciously for a second, before tearing through the wrapping at break-neck speed.

Her eyes widened a sizeable amount when she saw what was inside. She revealed out an outfit that was extremely similar to her own combat outfit. The only difference were an exposed midriff and a very revealing chest area, mirroring Yang's own outfit.

The more innocent huntress narrowed her eyes at her sister. "YANG XIAO LONG! You pervert!" she yelled before chasing furiously after her sister, who still cackled mischievously as the sprinted around the room.

Jaeger sighed before dropping down to the floor, decking the two sisters. He grabbed Ruby and put her into the custody of Blake, who tied up Ruby's legs with some rope that came out of thin air.

"Alright, everyone be civil. Let's get back on track," ordered Jaeger as everyone else fell in line with their gifts. A now pacified Ruby blazed through her gifts.

She got two circular gold earrings with a pristine diamond-shaped blue dust crystal embedded into each from Weiss. Blake's gift was that Convergent book that Jaeger had glanced over earlier. Apparently, Ruby was actually a big fan of the series.

Ren painted her a beautiful water-colour portrait of Team RWBY. The quartet were standing in a row, looking straight on, with their weapons drawn and the wielders in menacing poses.

Pyrrha had carved Ruby a gorgeous pine sculpture of Crimson Rose, fully painted with immaculate detail.

A whole crate of ammo for the afore-mentioned sniper rifle/scythe hybrid was the gift from Jaune. Not the most conventional gift in the world, but it was thoughtful nonetheless.

Nora apparently completely forgot that it was Ruby's birthday, so she simply pointed out the window to her massive jar of maple syrup, stating that Ruby could take as much as she wanted, as long as she didn't take more than half.

Last up was Jaeger, who tentatively handed over a small wooden box with a silver rose embroidered onto its lid. Ruby eyed it up curiously, but before she could open it, Jaeger interrupted her.

"That... that was from your mother, Ruby." The recipient's eyes stared up at her friend in surprise.

Jaeger chose to continue with his explanation. "She was a friend and mentor of mine. In fact, Summer and her team were all mentors of my team. One day, your mother approached me with this box. She said that she had noticed the attraction between me and my teammate, Chane. Summer told me to give this to Chane, as well as how to approach her. Your mother is the reason I got together with Chane."

Jaeger smiled sadly as he remembered putting the item inside the box onto Chane for the first time. That was a day he would never, ever forget. Almost every night, that very scene and the resulting first kiss would vividly replay in his dreams.

"But... but she's not able to wear it now. Since its of no use to her, I thought that I would give it to you, since it came from your mother. I hope it brings you joy and happiness of the magnitude that Chane and I got from it."

A single tear rolled down the face of Ruby as she watched the extreme pain that plagued Jaeger's face. She looked down at the box that had once belonged to her mother. Slowly pulling the lid open, she gasped in astonishment at the beautiful pendant that lay within.

She lifted it out to get a better view, revealing to everyone a small, red, elliptical emerald, which was encased in a thin, silver ring. Attached to that ring were seven tassels made out of gold. Each tassel had a small, circular plate, also made out of gold, attached to the end of it. On each plate was different coloured diamond, and each of those diamonds were engraved with letters, which spelled out Courage.

Ruby noticed this and looked up to Jaeger for an explanation. "It was the name of my team. Team Courage."

Jaeger shut his eyes and took a deep breath, before returning his more laid-back look to his face. "Alright, let's not get too emotional. We're here to celebrate, aren't we?" he said as Yang yelled her approval.

While everyone else started raiding the food laid out on the fold-out table that Jaeger had donated from his own room, Blake watched from the perch of her own bed.

The faunus eyed up Jaeger with extreme curiosity. _First me, now Ruby. Jaeger's given us both gifts that aren't easy on him. He's sacrificed a lot of money for me, and now he's sacrificed a token of the girl he loved._

While she couldn't explain it, Blake felt a strange connection to Jaeger. There was just something special about him. And she was completely taken with his background. She just needed to know more, and she knew exactly how to get her fix.

* * *

 **AN: Alright, I hope you guys liked that chapter! I'm trying to properly write the growing relationships between Jaeger and the students, and I'm also trying to paint the picture of Pyrrha and Jaeger being once extremely close. If I did those two goals justice, please say. Also, please tell me if I didn't. Criticism is completely welcome as long as it helps me to better the story.**

 **So, did you guys like the interactions between Jaeger and Blake? What about Ruby's birthday. I didn't feel that the rest of party was necessary to be shown, but if I was wrong, let me know. If you want me to tackle anything, tell me. By the way, I'm going to have birthdays for the rest of Team RWBY, as well as Pyrrha's. We'll also get Jaeger's birthday.**

 **Now, some of you guys may be curious about Jaeger's past. Don't worry, its gonna start getting a whole lot clearer very soon.**

 **This chapter/episode is also set between The Badge and the Burden 2 and Jaunedice. Next up is probably going to be my take on Jaunedice.**

 **So, follow, favourite, and review please! That would make my day. This is bluhawk19 signing off. Have a great day and happy reading, guys!**


	5. I'll Be There For You, Always

**AN: Not gonna be the longest chapter in the world. I had something else planned for this, but I eventually decided to split it into two chapters. Don't worry, you guys should still have fun reading this one. WARNING! Things get a bit ballistic, and this is just a hint of how crazy things are gonna get.**

 **Also, I hope you guys like the new name. I'm not too sure about it yet, so please share your feedback on it.**

 **Remember, words in italics are thoughts. OK, I hope you guys enjoy! Happy reading!**

* * *

"If I'm gonna get my own class, then I'm gonna get like an office of my own, right?"

"Yes."

"Then could I get a spinny chair like yours? 'Cause I wanna be able to like swirl around in my chair after all my students, then say something so simple but so awesome-sounding like 'Hello, grasshoppers' in a malevolent voice."

Ozpin chuckled, being reminded that Jaeger was still so young. While the more playful, more joyous Jaeger had slowly regressed after the deaths of the other members of Team CREJ, his month at Beacon had begun to dig up his old personality. Slowly, the angry and cold-hearted Jaeger that had emerged from the flames was disappearing.

* * *

"So Oz comes to me and tells me that he wants me to take on a class. Its supposed to be like a class for more advanced students, as well as students that have the potential to be greater than average. Apparently I'm supposed to make them even better, more skilled," said Jaeger as he lay on the grass of Beacon's lush gardens.

Next to him lay Pyrrha, listening intently to her old/new best friend. "So, did you accept the offer?"

Jaeger stared at his companion as if she was mad. "Of course I accepted! Not only can I take my students out to fight Grimm and stuff, but I can give detentions to whoever I want! What more could a teacher ask for?"

Pyrrha smiled, knowing that the class was a big deal for Jaeger. In his first month at Beacon, he had often complained about not getting to see any real combat. Pyrrha knew even when she fought him in Miss Goodwitch's first class that he was holding back. Jaeger had come to Beacon to try and reconnect with society after regressing into seclusion. But he had sacrificed combat for reconnection, and it was starting to get to him.

"So, have you got any candidates for selection yet?"

"Well, that's why I took you out for this picnic. Congratulations, Pyrrha, you're part of the first draft."

Said Spartan blushed deep crimson, despite knowing that she would be one of the first to be added to the class' register. "So, who are my new classmates?"

Her new teacher pulled out a list of names, presumably those he had selected for his class, and handed it over to her. Her curious eyes scanned the list.

From top to bottom, the list read Pyrrha Nikos, Weiss Schnee, Lie Ren, Velvet Scarlatina, Ruby Rose, and Blake Belladonna.

"Not the biggest class ever, if you ask me," said Pyrrha, a little surprised at the fact that only five students would be joining her.

"Well, I can add students, as well as remove them, as I see fit. If someone impresses me, they might even join my ranks," Jaeger said matter-of-factly. "Speaking of class, you've got Glynda's right now."

The redhead thanked her friend and said goodbye before rushing off to combat class, leaving Jaeger to plan out his first lesson.

* * *

Pyrrha watched on in despair as her leader was once again quashed in combat class. She was about to tackle Cardin to the ground as she noticed the evil glint in his eye, but Miss Goodwitch interrupted the mace-wielder before she could. She swore to herself that if the bully hurt Jaune again that she would break Cardin's legs with his own mace.

The champion got out of her seat and tried to chase down the disconcerted swordsman, but he had already disappeared into the multitude of students clamouring to get their lunch.

* * *

Beacon's youngest teacher slid his tray of food to the right of Blake, before taking his seat next to the faunus, who was once again enraptured by a book. _She probably takes showers while reading books. Oo, Blake in the shower..._

Jaeger was shaken out of his lustful thoughts as Nora's booming voice launched into some story about surfing on a nevermore at the beaches of Patch.

"Hey, Blake," he greeted to no reciprocation. He was sure that Blake hadn't even heard him, as she usually tuned out the rest of the universe when intently reading.

"Hey, Jaeg, don't worry about her," said Yang, poking her partner's shoulder, another action which was completely ignored. "She's too busy reading smut."

That specific comment finally brought Blake out of her trance, as she glared menacingly into the eyes of the blonde beauty. Jaeger swore that he literally saw fire emanating from Blake's eyes.

"It is not smut. It is an art form that uses the whole human body to tell a story. I'm not even reading smut at the moment. Not that I ever read smut," Blake asserted with venom in her voice. She then proceeded to shut her current book, a little to forcefully, before trading it for a "less adult" adventure novel.

Jaeger smiled before going back to his meal, mirroring his seat-mate by drowning out Nora's latest tale, this time about selling Ursai skins or something like that. _Seriously, how does Pyrrha put up with this? Scratch that, how is Ren not brain-dead after knowing this girl for so many years?_

The audio returned to normal volume in Jaeger's ears when he heard Pyrrha confronting Jaune about Cardin's bullying. The eldest huntsman at the table looked around, trying to locate the student who had already crossed into Jaeger's sniper scope.

He spotted the mace-wielder mocking Velvet Scarlatina, along with the rest of Team CRDL. Despite not really knowing her, Jaeger had been very impressed by the young faunus, and had added her to his advanced class. But besides being a huntress, she was a faunus, and was taking a social and, at the moment, a literal beating for her heritage.

Flames of hatred began to flare up in Jaeger's eyes. "Ren, can you take care of my food for a moment?" asked Jaeger, knowing that he was the most trustworthy student within arms length. Ren nodded and Jaeger rose out of his seat. The huntsman walked menacingly over to his targets.

"Scarlet, could you please go sit with Teams RWBY and JNPR. There are spots next to Lie Ren and I," asked the furious axe-wielder politely. The fires in his eyes dissipated while he spoke to Scarlet, but the moment she had departed, they were stoked back to full force.

Onlookers watched as a mist of dust suddenly exploded around the table. In the blink of an eye, the dust cloud had transformed into a rope-shaped form, which was dangling the four members of Team CRDL perilously in a row from the ceiling. They were so high up that their feet were almost making physical contact with the topside wall.

From below, Jaeger stared with fury at the bullies, who now wore absolutely terrified expressions. They pleaded unsuccessfully with Jaeger to let them down. He waited for a moment before rapidly lengthening the "dust rope," lowering the quartet at break-neck speed. Even Cardin shut his eyes as they hurtled towards the table.

Of course, Jaeger didn't actually want to break their necks, so he slowed their descent as they got closer to him. Being the tallest, Cardin's head came closest to the table, stopping within two inches of meeting the pristine wood and metal top.

Jaeger growled as he leaned his face in towards the upside down leader. "Why were you bullying Velvet?" he said in a deep and terrifying voice.

The petrified Cardin knew better than to lie to this huntsman. "Its because she's faunus!"

"So does her being a faunus give you the right to look down on her and abuse her?" Jaeger queried as his scowl turned into a furious frown.

"No sir!" cried the now pale-white bully.

Jaeger gave Cardin a terrifying growl before booming, "WELL THEN WHY DO YOU DO IT?"

Without waiting for a reply, knowing that the younger boy wouldn't give one, Jaeger took a step back, now looking at the four boys, who were all so terrified that they had stopped quaking altogether.

Jaeger dropped his voice to a deep, more silent, but somehow more menacing voice. Anyone who wasn't a faunus probably wouldn't be able to hear what he said.

"There are no gaps between faunus and humans. There are none better; we are all equals. Just as we shouldn't look down on other humans, we shouldn't look down on faunus. We lead by example. If we treat them as equals, then they will begin to do the same."

Jaeger "allowed" a lapse in his concentration, dissolving the "ropes" which held Team CRDL up, sending them head-first into the table below. Jaeger waved a hand over the now body-laden table, collecting all the dust into a ball. He flicked his hand towards his utility belt, sending the ball streaming into an open vial, which he then proceeded to shut.

Jaeger whirled around and walked with a blank expression on his face as he returned to his seat. Apparently Miss Scarlatina had chosen to sit to the right of her new teacher. She looked at him in awe, but Jaeger chose to ignore it and go back to his meal.

Before taking a bite, though, he had something to say. "Jaune, bullying isn't permitted in this school. Remember that you can always come to me if it ever happens again."

A single tear rolled down his face as he mouthed thank you back to Jaeger. Pyrrha also mouthed a thank you to her best friend before turning back to her food. He smiled back at Jaune and nodded, knowing that he had accomplished his mission successfully.

* * *

Both Blake and Velvet stared at the huntsman. They had both heard and were surprised by what Jaeger had said to Cardin.

While the incognito faunus chose to continue her observation from a passive position, Velvet needed to know why someone would stick up for her like that.

"Um... um... excuse me, Mr. Banzai. I, um, was just wondering... why did you do that?"

"First of all, call me Jaeger. I'm soon going to be your teacher, not just a teaching assistant, but I'm also your friend."

"Anyway, back to your query. Something that you should know about me is that I'm very pro-faunus. I've fought for equality between the faunus and humans."

"You see, I actually had a faunus on my team. The second-in-command, actually. She was a wolf faunus."

"Eve had no real friends during her school life. She was bullied by everyone for being a faunus, especially 'cause she couldn't hide it." At this comment, Blake looked down at the table guiltily. She had always been able to hide behind a bow, but being a faunus like Velvet would've made her stick out of the crowd.

"Eve, however, didn't care about what other people would say about her. She was a faunus, and proud of it. Even if she was able to hide her heritage, I know she wouldn't have. Always be proud of who you are, Velvet. Never hide it."

"Anyway, although Eve was never bothered by the fact that she had no friends, I know that she was ecstatic when she came to Beacon. This was the first place that she had friends who didn't care about her being a faunus. So, if you need anyone to talk to or simply a friend, know that you've got a friend in me."

Velvet and Blake smiled, the both of them enamoured by him. Velvet just wanted to cling to her hero and never let go, while Blake was so intrigued by him that she had secretly been following him around, just to get to him better. Regardless, both felt ecstatic and privileged that such a strong champion of the faunus cause considered them as friends.

* * *

 **AN: A bit of a shorter chapter this time around, but that's because its based on a very short, 4-minute episode. The following chapter is going to be a lot longer because next up is both Jaunedice 2 and Jaeger's first class! Can't for you guys to read it. Should be up sometime tomorrow, as usual. I'll be delving a bit more into Jaeger's relationships with Blake and Yang, as well as giving more on his past with Pyrrha.**

 **Speaking of past, I hope you guys liked the bit about Eve. I'm getting really excited to finally write the parts of Jaeger's past that he's kept hidden.**

 **Also, yes, I had to throw in that Toy Story reference!**

 **Just in case you guys were wondering, after the next chapter, I'll be doing at least one chapter, maybe two, based on The Stray and Black and White, which are the final two episodes of Volume 1. It'll open up the doors to a couple of possible romances, so I hope you guys like what I have planned.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Remember to favourite, follow, and review, and also PM me if you have any questions or just want to say something. See you Space Cowboy!**


	6. First Class

**AN: First of all, I want to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, and favourited so far. You guys are so awesome and I really appreciate the fact that people actually like the stuff that I post. You guys really make it worthwhile. Even if no one was reading, I could still continue posting, because if even one person reads this fanfic and enjoys it, then that's mission accomplished. Once again, you guys are the best.**

 **Second, I'm so sorry that I didn't post this yesterday. I was really busy 'cause it was my birthday, and I tried to write as much as possible on my phone while travelling in between places. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. I really feel quite disappointed that I wasn't able to get everything done by the time I had promised.**

 **Regardless, I hope you guys like this chapter. It even has a cameo from an unexpected character that I hope you guys like. I actually had quite a bit of fun writing it.**

 **Anyway, its time for Jaeger's first class, and it went through a LOT of rewrites. This chapter was originally going to be like 7,000 words, but I realized that there were a lot of unnecessary parts in that story. Then I had to completely restructure the whole thing to fit my new ideas, again and again.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy! Happy reading!**

* * *

Jaeger scanned his new classroom proudly from his office as he tried to spot any inconsistencies in the building. His building was situated in the forests behind Beacon academy. It consisted of a large dojo, which was separated from Jaeger's conjoined office by a plexiglass wall and door.

In the quarter of the dojo closest to Jaeger's office were six desks in two rows of three. They were simple wooden desks with some space inside to store books and other stationary.

The glass of the office could be transformed from transparent to opaque, allowing privacy in cases such as Jaeger giving counsel to a student.

After properly inspecting his classroom and giving himself a content nod, Jaeger exited his office to prepare to greet his new students. Though class would not start for another five minutes, Blake entered the dojo the moment that Jaeger did.

"Greetings, young grasshopper," Jaeger joked, trying to break the ice with the usually more distant girl.

She smiled despite herself, shaking Jaeger's hand before seating herself at the front left of the six desks that populated the northern quarter of the classroom. Her friend and now teacher took a seat to her right.

"So, have you started that book I bought you?" asked Jaeger, hoping to strike up a conversation.

"Um... yeah, I've actually read through it four times," Blake said, knowing that Jaeger would probably jump at the chance to mock her "obsession" with Ninjas of Love.

Instead, Jaeger just smiled at her. "You really like the book that much? I guess the price tag was really worth it." He received a smile in return.

Jaeger was about to try and continue their exchange when the other five students entered the classroom together. He got up out of the seat and moved to the front of the classroom, waiting for the rest of his students to settle in.

Their new teacher eyed each one of them carefully. "Alright, so I'm not gonna go on explaining what we're gonna do in this class. I'm not gonna lay down a whole bunch of rules. I chose each of you because I know that you're all disciplined enough. No, we're just gonna go straight into out first lesson. For that, there's a bullhead waiting for us at the launch pads."

* * *

The bullhead slowed to a stop over a forest clearing outside the walls of the city of Vale. It descended and touched down softly in the glade, allowing its passengers to hop out before jetting back into the air and disappearing out of view.

"Now you may be wondering why we exited the safety of the city of Vale and entered a densely-populated Grimm region. Well, today's lesson was actually inspired by an old mentor of mine who I was talking to yesterday. He used to tell to me about how he and his team would fight off endless hordes of Grimm. And by the time you guys are done at Beacon, I hope that you can be close to saying the same."

"But learning comes in stages. So, for today, I'm going to have you guys work together to take down a group of Grimm. These Grimm are have not been collected together. We actually have a guest today who is 'fetching' the wave for you."

As if waiting for Jaeger's signal, said wave of Grimm came crashing out of the trees to the left of the group. Waving goodbye for now to his students, Jaeger took a dust crystal out of his belt and smashed it on the ground. From the resulting grains, he formed a wide and thin disc that he hovered into the sky on.

"I count at least thirteen," informed Ren, shifting into battle mode.

"Best I can tell, that group is made up of Ursai and Beowolves," added Ruby, who had pulled out Crimson Rose and was brandishing her threateningly at the onrushing creatures of Grimm.

"Two Deathstalkers at the back of the pack!" hollerred Blake, who had leapt up onto a high tree branch to get a better vantage point on their opponents.

Hearing this, Ruby transformed Crimson Rose into her sniper rifle form. She opened fire on the onrushing Grimm, looking to mow down as many as possible before they got within meleé range.

From above, Jaeger smiled down smugly at his youngest student. _Its not gonna be that easy, Ruby. These Grimm are much smarter than that. They know how to use their armour to their advantage._

The barrage that Ruby had unleashed had kicked up a huge wall of dust, barring the students' lines of sight. When the dust cloud subsided, Ruby and her friends were extremely dismayed to find that none of the Grimm had been brought down. The Grimm had used their head plates to deflect the bullets.

"Looks like we're gonna have to get a bit more up close and personal," said Ruby as she shifted her sniper rifle back into scythe form.

Right after that comment, Jaeger's message tone went off. He pulled out his scroll and tapped open the message.

"I sent 8 Ursai, 6 Beowolves, and 2 Deathstalkers your way. They should be there right about now," it read.

Jaeger tapped a few keys on the on-screen keyboard, sending "Grimm engaged" back to the sender.

Looking back down to the meleé below, Jaeger saw that two Ursai lay in pieces on the ground. Ruby and Ren had jumped onto the back of one of the Deathstalkers, while Pyrrha was clinging onto the stinger of the other. Weiss, Blake, and Velvet were busy trying to strike the Ursai and Beowolves from range while hopping from tree to tree.

An idea came to Blake as she dodged a Beowolf claw, which destroyed the branch that she was just perched on. Blake landed onto the branch of another tree, climbing higher and higher until she was on the top tier of the tree's branches. Blake opened fire on the protected heads of the Beowolves around the tree she was in. _I count five. Let's just hope she's quick enough._

"Weiss!" yelled Blake to draw the attention of her teammate. Weiss drew her gaze to the direction of Blake, where she saw that the bow-wearing girl had drawn the attention of several Beowolves, who were all clawing at the tree Blake was in, leaving themselves exposed to attack from a lower direction.

Seeing what Blake had in mind, Weiss activated a propulsion glyph, sending her right at a Beowolf in her line of attack. Before the creature even realized what was going on, Myrternaster had already run straight through its torso. Keeping up her rapid assault, Weiss summoned another glyph, then another, as she stabbed all five Beowolves in a matter of seconds.

Velvet meanwhile had drawn an Ursa and the remaining Beowolf into the forest. She bounded from tree to tree, occasionally leaping down to the floor when one of her pursuers flung itself into the tree she was just in.

Looking to kill them off and get back to her classmates, Velvet waited until the Beowolf leapt at her perch in the trees. Instead of dropping to the ground or jumping to the next tree, however, she leapt backwards, landing a few feet from the charging Ursa.

After crashing down from launching itself into the trees again, the Beowolf turned around, sensing Velvet behind it. The Grimm charged at its prey, which was running across its line of sight. Once it got close, the Beowolf pounced forward with both claws raised, poised to kill.

What it clawed into instead was the Ursa, which itself had its claws digging into the Beowolf. Velvet smiled to herself as she watched from the sidelines, glad that her plan to get the two creatures of Grimm to kill each other had worked. She would've hated to have used her weapon so soon.

Back in the glade, Blake and Weiss had taking to attacking the last seven Ursai from opposite heights and directions. The Ursai had seen what had happened to the Beowolves, and had taken to fighting back to back.

The duo had managed to kill two Ursai already, but these were clearly older, more experienced, and more intelligent than normal Grimm, making them much more difficult to kill off.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Ren had managed to cut off the stinger and three legs of the Deathstalker that they were combating, and yet it was still fighting, and fighting hard. They hadn't even got close to the underbelly of the Grimm because its agility allowed it to move out of the way and swipe at them with its pincers.

The Deathstalker also stayed close to the ground, which negated Ruby using her semblance and bursting under it while swiping at its lower abdomen.

"Ren, I have an idea! Jump up to the trees. Since it has no stinger, it'll have to raise itself up a bit to take a swipe at us!" yelled Ruby over one of the Deathstalker's angry roars.

Ren did as told, both he and Ruby firing a few shots at the Deathstalker to stall before leaping up into the trees.

Once up there, they opened fire on the Deathstalker. As Ruby predicted, it raised its body a bit to take swipes at them. Ruby waited until she was into the higher half of the branches. The Deathstalker swung at Ren, who was on a lower branch, narrowly missing him. Its attention turned to the caped girl, raising its right pincer before sending it crashing down on Ruby's location.

She dropped quickly to the ground before using her semblance to charge at the Deathstalker. She charged with Crimson Rose, in scythe form, in front of her. When she was just about to collide with the Deathstalker, she angled Crimson Rose, letting go before leaping up onto the top of its carapace.

Crimson Rose ran straight through the stomach of the creature of Grimm. Its momentum from Ruby's semblance burst allowed the scythe to power through all of the Grimm's thick underbelly, while Ruby's putting it at an angle permitted it to narrowly pass under the carapace of the Deathstalker.

Both Ruby and Ren took a deep breath, savouring their small victory while surveying the rest of the battlefield. Velvet had joined Pyrrha in fighting the other Deathstalker, and her agility had allowed her to distract and manoeuvre the Grimm enough for Pyrrha to have an opening. She rapidly exploited it, stabbing Miló straight into its side.

Over on the other side of the clearing, the white and black of Team RWBY had taken down all but two Ursai, who were now fighting back-to-back frantically. The Grimm duo had no chance as all six students converged onto them.

Jaeger smiled from above as he watched his students tear the remaining two Ursai to pieces. "Impressive. Most impressive," he said honestly to the hunters below.

He pulled out his scroll, composing a new message which read "Time to send in the surprise."

Below, the students were busy congratulating each other on their victory when they heard a booming, ferocious roar ripe through the forest. The six of them readied themselves again, brandishing their weapons in anticipation of the unknown enemy. They were told that they were only going to fight one wave, so why were there clearly more Grimm coming?

They watched uncertainly as two pairs of menacing yellow eyes glared at them from the shadows within the forest.

"Um, Jaeger?" said Ruby, really unsure if this was a surprise test or if it was actually an unscripted problem. She got no reply, only another vicious roar from the hidden creatures.

Two tense minutes passed while the students watched the pairs of yellow eyes circle them from the shadows. The eyes moved in opposite directions, meeting at the other end.

Just when the students thought that there would never be a fight, the eyes sprang out. Jaeger's pupils gasped as two White Beowolves leapt out of the shadows.

They quickly snapped out of their trances, readying themselves for these new enemies.

Weiss racked her brain, trying to remember anything on how to beat White Beowolves. She could recall nothing on any weaknesses or battle strategies, so she decided to use the simple strategy that had obliterated the last to Ursai a few minutes before.

"We're gonna go all out guys! Let's rip them apart as fast as possible!" she barked to her classmates. They nodded briefly before the barrage began.

Ruby zoomed straight in the middle of them, giving her strongest possible swipes left and right as she sailed in between the Grimm.

Simultaneously, Pyrrha fired Miló straight at torso of the Grimm on the left while chucking Akoúo at the midriff of the Grimm to her right. In the end, both Ruby's and Pyrrha's assaults failed to make a dent in the White Beowolves.

Weiss growled in frustration, summoning two repulsion glyphs below the Grimm. While they flew up in the air, Ren began a barrage on their faces. Ruby, perched in a tree, started trying to snipe the eyes of the Grimm.

The pair wouldn't go down easily, though. The pair shielded their eyes with their arms, effortlessly blocking the bullet rain while they waited to land.

Weiss launched herself at the Beowolves. The white-haired beauty deflected a swipe from the Beowolf on her left with Myrternaster before trying to stab into its left eye. This, however, left her vulnerable, and the White Beowolf pounced, backhanding her into the trees. Her head met furiously with the trunk of one, instantly knocking her out.

Jaeger had watched the whole thing with concern, and when he realized that Weiss wasn't getting up, he immediately flew down to her on his disk. While he wouldn't interfere yet, he wouldn't let his students be killed either.

As he watched the ongoing battle, his message beep went off again. He pulled out his scroll and opened the message. "How are they faring?"

"Weiss Schnee is KO'd. Ruby is sniping from trees. Pyrrha is taking them on CQC. Lie Ren and Blake Belladonna are bombarding from a distance. Velvet Scarletina is providing a distraction. No need to interfere. I'm guarding Weiss," he responded before returning his scroll to his pocket.

Back in the heat of the battle, Blake was launching a relentless flurry of strikes with Gambol Shroud's cleaver form, and the first optimistic signs of winning were beginning to show. The Beowolf that she was clashing with was in a defensive stance, using its arms as a shield. But it wasn't fast enough to land a blow, and the force of Blake's unabating attack was pushing it backwards.

Ren and Ruby stood several feet behind the struggling Beowolf, firing mercilessly into it's back.

The other Beowolf was engaged in combat with Velvet and Pyrrha. The faunus used her speed and agility to land kick after kick, punch after punch, all while dodging every attack that came her way.

Pyrrha, meanwhile, was going the old-fashioned way of using her shield to block strikes at her and using Miló's sword form to strike back.

While it looked like the students were winning, they still had a lot of work to do if they were to kill the White Beowolves. The five remaining conscious fighters realized that, so they increased their efforts.

Ruby and Ren both switched into their close quarters modes and joined Blake in the meleé battle. Ruby used her semblance to get herself and Ren right behind the Beowolf.

While Ren chopped at the right leg of the White Beowolf, Ruby went to hacking hastily at its left shoulder. Her speed and strength paid off after a minute of attacks. She managed to lop off the left arm and moved onto the left leg.

The missing left arm infuriated the Beowolf. Giving a ferocious roar, it spun around, kicking Ren in the face and sending him flying into a tree trunk. Like Weiss, he was instantly knocked out by the impact.

Momentarily distracted, Ruby received a fist in the face. A pang of fury washed over Blake's face. Having made several cuts to the White Beowolf's arms, and seeing that the Beowolf had been distracted from its defence, Blake moved onto the neck, relentlessly hacking away with blinding pace and power.

Recovering from the blow to her face, Ruby got back up from the ground and began chopping away at the Beowolf's torso. Her earlier cutting off of its arm had given it a special grudge against her, though. And her return to the fray stoked its fury up even more.

The Beowolf smashed a fist into Blake's gut, knocking her to the ground and into unconsciousness, before using its superior speed to fly past Ruby, slashing a claw into her side. The scythe-wielder cried out in agony, collapsing to the floor.

Before the Beowolf could land the finishing blow, however, it was sent flying into a tree trunk. Ruby looked up to see the weary trio of Weiss, Pyrrha, and Velvet. She looked past their legs, seeing the body of the White Beowolf that Pyrrha and Velvet had been battling on the floor, while its head lay several feet away from it.

Ruby guessed that Weiss had woken up and was partially responsible for the decapitated Grimm. She smiled proudly at her friends before she succumbed to the pain of her wounds and fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

Weiss sighed in annoyance as she saw her partner become unconscious. Along with Velvet and Pyrrha, they had taken down one White Beowolf. An already half-dead one should be like fighting a regular Beowolf.

She used a propulsion glyph to charge at the remaining White Beowolf, with Pyrrha and Velvet following close behind. Pyrrha and Weiss slashed at it with their swords while Velvet terrorized it with rapid punches and kicks all over its body.

The White Beowolf wasn't about to go down without a fight, though, and it was a furious White Beowolf to beat. When Weiss miss-timed a jab to its right shoulder, it struck. The Beowolf grabbed her arm and flung her into Velvet, sending the duo sprawling to the floor.

Pyrrha tried to stall for her friends, but the White Beowolf was stronger than she was. It landed a powerful punch to her solar plexus, sending her flying back.

Turning its attention back to Weiss, it took hold of Myrternaster and flung it away. The White Beowolf grabbed her by the neck with its remaining hand before charging at a tree on the other side of the glade. It stopped a dozen feet away from the trunk, but let go of Weiss, as she continued her high-velocity flight at the tree.

She managed to turn her body in mid-air, making herself parallel to the ground. Weiss hoped to launch herself off of the tree stock and back at the White Beowolf, but she couldn't react quick enough. She crashed feet-first into the trunk at high-velocity, breaking her legs immediately. She too succumbed to incapacity.

The Beowolf roared at her, ready to kill her, but its outcry was transformed into a helpless whimper as a spear pierced its right eye. Its left eye stared in fear at Velvet, who was perched in the branches above Weiss' motionless body. She had taken Miló from Pyrrha, who had injured her leg and couldn't take on the White Beowolf.

It stood paralysed by agonizing pain as Velvet leapt forward, pulling Miló from its right eye before revolving and stabbing the spear into its left. She removed Pyrrha's spear from the Beowolf's eye as it stumbled back, crying out in anguish.

The White Beowolf was helpless without its vision as Velvet launched a relentless barrage at its torso with Akoúo's sword form, finally landing the killing blow after about four dozen stabs.

* * *

Pyrrha glanced over at Velvet with pride as their bullhead took flight from the glade. _Who knew she had such a fight in her?_

After Velvet had killed the remaining White Beowolf, the faunus had helped Pyrrha and Jaeger, as well as their pilot, someone she didn't recognize, to carry the unconscious bodies of Ren, Ruby, Blake, and Weiss into the bullhead. They had to take extra care with Weiss, who had fractured both her legs.

Pyrrha herself was quickly getting over her sprained ankle thanks to her aura, while Velvet had suffered only minor cuts and bruises that had already healed.

Jaeger meanwhile was sitting in the co-pilot seat, conversing with the pilot. "Thanks for your help with the Grimm today, Qrow."

Ruby and Yang's uncle had happily jumped at the chance to help out with his former apprentice. They hadn't seen each other in over a year, and Qrow was extremely proud of the man that had emerged from the embers.

"You took practical learning to a whole new level," Qrow commented.

Jaeger returned a small chuckle. "I only did what I was taught to do," he retorted humourously.

Qrow laughed in return for a moment, before the cockpit fell into silence. He was also the one that broke it after a minute.

"How much have you told your students?" he inquired with a lower and more serious tone.

Jaeger also dropped his voice to a whisper, saying "Nothing directly connected to what happened with CREJ. And don't worry, I haven't said anything about our operations. Of course, only Pyrrha knows anything. But she's part of the team."

Qrow nodded contentedly. "Good, because I need to speak to you right now, so we need to keep everything in code. Now, I suspect that Candle is just a pawn, and not the only one. I have two other possible pawns that we're trying to track down."

A pang of dismay struck Jaeger's face. "If Candle is a pawn, then we have a big problem. If a simple HUMAN lackey could gain the cooperation of the White Fang, then what could a Bishop or even a Queen have in store?"

"I don't know, but my guys are at the moment trailing one of my suspects. We're hoping that he leads to bigger fish."

"But we can't rely on possibilities, Qrow. We have to find more leads before the bubs at Atlas bring Ironwood into the fray. Its hard enough to track down these guys without an imbecile like James interfering."

Jaeger sighed, remembering a conversation he had with Ozpin the previous day. "Ironwood told Ozpin that he was coming to discuss Ozpin's handling of the matter, Qrow. He's flying in soon."

Qrow growled, dropping into deep thought at this dismal news. Both he and Jaeger had long shared a hate for Ironwood and his methods.

* * *

Realizing that Qrow was no longer in a talking mood, Jaeger decided to go check up on Weiss, who was in the medical bay in the back of the bullhead. They had strapped in the three less injured but still unconscious students in seats opposite Pyrrha and Velvet.

After passing said duo, who were deep in conversation about the upcoming Vytal Festival, Jaeger came up to the med bay door. He tapped the button on the side to open the door and entered.

A battered and weary-looking but smiling Weiss greeted him. "Hey," she mustered weakly.

"Hey," he responded as the door shut behind him. She somehow looked terrible and beautiful at the same time. Her tears had washed away a lot of her make-up, revealing her scar.

"You alright?" he asked as he stepped up to her.

"Got a couple broken bones, but other than that, I'm great," she wise-cracked.

"We're still a couple minutes away from Beacon. I just came to keep you company while we wait."

"Thank you," Weiss responded as Jaeger sat in the chair next to the bed she lay on.

Her teacher smiled back at her before remembering her scar. "Where'd you get the scar?"

Her smile morphed into a frown as she remembered it all. "My family was attacked by the White Fang eleven years ago while on holiday in Vacuo. There were three of them. We were having dinner in the cottage that we were staying in when they burst through the windows to the dining room."

"My dad grabbed a knife and tried to defend us. He slashed one of them in the arm, but that guy countered with a knock-out punch. My mother grabbed my sister Winter and I and ran outside, yelling for our bodyguards."

"One of them got the jump on us at the beach. He kicked my mother down as slashed at me, which is how I got the scar. I had already jumped back, so he didn't kill me. I fell to the floor and next I know, a gun goes off and he falls to the ground."

"If our bodyguards hadn't intervened in time, I would've been killed by those filthy faunus."

A flame of anger rose up inside Jaeger, but he kept that emotion from his face. "You shouldn't call them filthy, Weiss. The White Fang are evil, not the faunus. Just look at Velvet. She risked her life to save you earlier. She's also one of the kindest people I know."

Weiss looked up to the ceiling in defeat. "I... I suppose you're right. But I know that you would've intervened if she hadn't. That's why I agreed to go today. I knew that no matter what we were going to do, you wouldn't put us through something that you couldn't protect us from. I know that you're always there for us, Jaeger."

The two smiled at each other as Jaeger rose out of his seat and held Weiss' hand in his. Jaeger scroll went off, but he didn't bother to check it. "We're here," he said, putting his arms under Weiss as he transferred her to the gurney next to her bed.

He wheeled her all the to Beacon's medical room, planting a kiss to her forehead before telling her to get some rest. He flashed her one last smile before walking back to the bullhead to talk to Qrow about that night's mission.

* * *

 **AN: Alright, you may have noticed that Velvet didn't use her weapon during Jaeger's "class" and that is because I have a theory for what it is. I think I'm pretty close to what it actually is. Don't worry it will (eventually) be used. And because of how powerful I think Velvet's weapon is, the fight that I'm going to unleash it in will be pretty big.**

 **Did you like that little moment with Velvet? I've always thought that she would be one of the most terrifying and deadliest huntresses around when defending her friends.**

 **What about the moment between Jaeger and Weiss. While to Jaeger, it may simply be a caring teacher and friend, Weiss may be seeing something more.**

 **I know that I didn't tackle Jaunedice 2 in this chapter. I didn't think that it fit here, but I've already started writing it in the next chapter.**

 **Now, some of you have helped by pointing out some inconsistencies and errors. I first want to say thank you. But now I'm asking if anyone could help me out by beta-reading for me. Its kinda hard for one to pick out the mistakes when he's also the writer. Also, it would be good to have someone to discuss plans with. Kinda like an editor or something like that.**

 **So what did you guys think of Qrow's cameo? What do you guys think that the "mission" that Qrow and Jaeger are going on is? Share your thoughts in a review or PM. Don't forget to favourite and follow.** **I do wish we could chat longer, but... I'm having an old friend for dinner. Bye.**


	7. We Make Each Other Better

**AN: Wow this turned out to be a lot longer than I expected. But anyway, sorry that this is very late. Part of the celebrations of my birthday on Sunday spilled over to today, so I haven't had much time to write this.**

 **Anyway, enough about my boring life. I hope you guys had a good day today! Or are having a good day. Or are about to have a good one. Whichever one fits your time zone.**

 **Alright, on to the chapter! This morning/this afternoon/this evening, I present to you the promised conclusion to the Jaunedice arc, as well as a few continuations of threads left hanging from the last chapter.**

 **Okay, hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

Jaeger's neck began to hurt from simply following Oobleck, who was, as always, zipping back and forth across his classroom. _Why am I even here? Oobleck never needed an assistant teacher when I attended here, so why'd he get Glynda to force me to 'assist' today?_

After an annoyed sigh, he over at the students from his seat at the left wall of the class. _Looks like everyone except Weiss is back up and running after earlier._

He took another sip of the indescribable coffee in his mug as he passively listened to a lesson which Oobleck had taught in Jaeger's second year—that of the faunus civil rights movement.

Jaeger suddenly watched with interest as Oobleck posed a question to his students—or more specifically to the faunus pupils. "Now, have any of you been subjugated or discriminated because of your faunus heritage?"

The hand of a student went up in the fourth row. Jaeger smiled internally. _Good. Eve always said that one of the first steps to being outwardly proud of being a faunus was to admit to the discrimination against you because of your being a faunus._

He waited for any other faunus to raise their hands; his reply coming in the form of Velvet Scarlatina, who had waited for a fellow student to raise their hand before even considering doing the same.

For some reason, Jaeger's gaze flicked a bit higher for a moment. He caught two clashing emotions in the eyes of Blake, who was seated directly behind Velvet. She looked at no one in particular with anger, but her eyes also looked... _guilty?_

 _What has she to be guilty for? Did she bully faunus when she was younger? No, Blake isn't the kind of person to have ever disfavoured someone. Then what is it?..._

His thoughts were interrupted as Jaune yelled "Hey!"

Oobleck dashed over to the formerly-slumbering freshman. "MR. ARC! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?"

Jaune began to mumble and stutter, clearly knowing nothing on the topic, or even what was going on.

"Uh... the answer... the advantage... uh, the faunus... had...," he said as he tried to crane his neck past Oobleck to see Pyrrha, who was signing something to him, "Over that... guy's stuff... ... uh, b-binoculars!"

The class broke out into laughter as Jaeger and Pyrrha simultaneously face-palmed. Jaeger smiled to himself. _He wouldn't be sleeping no matter what if he had some of this incredible concoction_ _. Of course, its off limits to these guys. Only I am worthy..._

Oobleck meanwhile was trying to get the class back on track.

"Cardin?" he called out, hoping to find the answer elsewhere than Jaune. "Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!"

Cardin was about to make a speciesist remark about the faunus when he caught the smouldering glare of Jaeger. Remembering the ordeal that he went through yesterday, he quickly bit back his wise-crack, instead choosing to simply state that he unfortunately didn't know the answer.

Looking to actually give Professor Oobleck an accurate answer, Pyrrha raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Nikos?" Professor Oobleck said expectantly. _Surely she knows the answer._

"It's night vision. Many faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark." From his seat on the other side of the room, Jaeger beamed proudly. _That's right! That's my girl! I taught her that very fact, you know._

Blake then joined in, expanding on Pyrrha's answer. "General Lagoon was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured."

"And eventually stripped of everything on his person, including his clothes, and forced to trudge home, a humiliated man, after the war," interjected Jaeger, sparking a wave of laughter throughout the class, even Velvet and Oobleck.

After calming down, the professor zoomed over to a still cracking up Jaune. "Don't think I've forgotten about you, Mr. Arc. You and Mr. Winchester can both see me after class for additional readings."

"Aw..." groaned Jaune.

Oobleck ignored, instead taking up his regular routine as he whizzed over to the other side of the room. "Now, moving on!"

* * *

Later that night...

Jaeger heard a knock at his door. He glanced curiously at his wall clock. _It's quarter to eleven. Who in the dust would be visiting me right now? Is it Ozpin? Yeah, it's probably Ozpin. Which good, because if he personally came down here, then he must have found them._

He got up from off his sofa, stopping in front of the door for a second to ponder what he would need for the mission before expectantly opened the door.

"Hey, O... you're not Ozpin," he said to Jaune with a frown. _Oz hasn't found them yet. He better hurry up, because Ironwood is almost definitely gonna come barging in here soon if he doesn't._

"Are you alright?..." asked Jaeger, really unsure as to what Jaune could possibly want at this time. "Did something happen to Pyrrha?"

The shy student lowered his head slightly. "No, she's fine. I, um... I wanted to talk to you about what you did for Velvet, actually."

"Oh... alright. Come in then."

Jaeger opened the door wide and allowed Jaune to come in. The two men seated themselves in sofa chairs opposite each other before Jaeger motioned for Jaune to say what he came to say.

"Well, I first want to say how awesome that was. B-but anyway... I was kinda wondering... well, Pyrrha was telling me that I needed help. She insulted me!"

"I mean, she thinks that I'm not good enough, and that I should train with her! But I don't want her help just so I can get onto the level of everyone else! For once, I want to be the hero, not just some innocent bystander, and not just some plot device to get the hero to fight the villain!"

"I have a lot to live up to, Jaeger. I'm not on everyone else's level. I'm nowhere near my family's level."

"But after seeing what you did to Cardin, I saw what I want to be. I don't simply want to be on the average level. I want to be better, the best. I want to be like you!"

"You're the hero! You swoop in and save the day! You probably get all the girls too!"

"I... I just... I need to know how to be like you. How to be a man. How to be a hero!"

Jaeger sighed, remembering when he had a similar conversation with Pyrrha's father.

"First of all, Jaune, what I did yesterday, I did because I felt that it was the right thing to do. Not because of some sense of 'being a man' or whatever."

"And I don't care if anyone disagrees with my methods, because I know that they work. I try to ingrain a lesson in their mind, so that they learn and never forget. Since you came to me for help, I'll try and do the same for you."

"Jaune, let me let you in on something which you could probably look up about me but you probably haven't. So anyway... I was only here at Beacon for three years. My team and I were advanced through our studies at a quicker pace than our peers."

"But despite that, despite all that you may have heard about us, we didn't go it alone. Part of becoming a great leader, as well as a great huntsman, is to know when you need help, and to be able to accept it."

"This is something I taught Pyrrha, and now she's putting it into action. I hope that you learn it too."

"Some people will tell you that part of being a man is to know when to not fight. Well, another part of being a man is to know your weaknesses and to accept help. Yet another part is being able to accept that you will make mistakes and doing your best to rectify them."

"And remember, the best of friends are those that will criticize you and not sugar-coat everything. Those are the kind you should look out for."

Jaune smiled fondly at the sage-like older man. Despite Jaeger's youth, to the students that were his friends, he was one of the wisest people they knew. "Thank you, Jaeger. Though I know we aren't really friends yet, you've been a friend to me tonight. Now I know why everyone thinks of you as such a great leader."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go apologize to Pyrrha."

Jaune rose out of his chair, shook Jaeger's hand, and was about to walk over to the door when he remembered an exchange that he had just minutes before coming to talk with Jaeger.

"Hey, um, Jaeger. I have one more question. Cardin apologized to me after I argued with Pyrrha. He said that he regretted all his years of bullying, and that someone was trying to help him turn everything around. Did you have anything to do with that?"

Jaeger smiled knowingly before explaining, "I spoke to him after your 'talk' with Oobleck. He told me why he is the way he is, and I honestly think that there's still hope for him. Just try to be friends with him. He needs friends like you."

Jaune nodded and walked happily over to the door. He was half-way out the room when he heard Jaeger calling his name, stopping his departure once again.

"One more thing, Jaune."

"Yeah. Anything, Jaeger."

"I want you to take care of your team. Especially Pyrrha. I'm not going to be able to be there for her all the time, and despite her strong exterior and her long list of accomplishments, she's a more fragile than you could imagine."

"I love her like a sister, Jaune. She's one of my very best friends, and if you let her, she could be the same for you. And you should go to her if you ever need advice. She's got a lot of wisdom. Trust me, I was the one who put it there!"

* * *

Even later that night...

Two wraiths flew covertly from rooftop to rooftop under the cover of the night. After several minutes of bounding across buildings, the two made one final leap to the next building before rolling to kill their momentum.

The two hooded figures moved to the western side of the roof, sitting down behind the parapet there. It was low enough that they could see over it, but high enough that only someone actively looking for someone in their position could spot them.

They began their surveillance of the club across the street. It had glass walls so they could see inside. Both were tense as they waited impatiently for their mark to arrive.

One of the hooded figures looked over at the other on his right. "You can take the hood off, Qrow. You wear a mask anyway."

Qrow did as he was advised. "And you should wear one too."

"Nah, Chane always hated not being able to see my face. She hated masks, and she'd burn me if I ever wore one. Besides, you know I've always preferred hoods," Jaeger responded. "Anyway, back to the task at hand. You still haven't told me what our suspect looks like."

"Our man always wears a sky blue dress shirt under a lilac blazer. He wears charcoal grey trousers and jet black Derby shoes. He wears a black fedora, which he always takes off the moment he enters this club. He has worn the exact same outfit over the past three days. Today should be no different."

With this new information, Jaeger's gaze began to dash from person to person below. Ozpin was yet to find Jaeger's missing suspect, so they had decided to interrogate one of Qrow's.

"There... is one more thing, Jaeger."

Jaeger turned his head expectantly to Qrow, who looked very reluctant to speak, but he eventually spit it out. "This man that we're tracking... he wears a ring. Its a ring of the Dynasty Clan."

A tinge of hate coloured Jaeger's face. "You think that Torchwick is an associate of a member of the Dynasty Clan?" He received a nod in response.

"If the Dynasty Clan and the White Fang are working together..." trailed off Jaeger, not even wanting to consider what else was in store.

Qrow stared at his friend and former protege seriously. "You're avoiding my obvious implication, Jaeger."

The younger huntsman glared back at the elder. "Quin would NEVER cooperate with the Dynasty Clan. And don't you even dare bring up what happened with Ironwood, because you know that nothing would change his feelings for the Clan," he spat out in anger.

Qrow reeled back slightly in regret, knowing that he should have never brought up the topic of Quin. "We should get back to our recon."

Jaeger nodded, pushing down the flames of anger inside as he turned his gaze back to the club. The two huntsmen eyed every single person suspiciously for twenty minutes without success.

The impatience began to show on Jaeger's exterior as he found it harder and harder to stay still. Even at Beacon, he always doing something, whether it be interacting with students, helping out with classes, or discussing the mission with Ozpin.

Then, after what seemed like a whole day of watching, Qrow finally spotted their mark. "Jaeger, he's coming down the street."

Beacon's youngest teacher turned in the direction that the teacher at Signal was pointing in. The man, who wore exactly what Qrow had described, was a front seat passenger in a black sedan driving down the street. Written in white on the driver's door was TAXI. There were two figures in the back whose faces were obscured by the headrests of the front seats.

The cab slowed to a stop just before reaching the club. First emerged the mark, who once again was dressed exactly like the previous few days. _Looks like a fresh set of clothing, though. He must have a whole wardrobe of identical clothes like these._

Jaeger's eyes scanned the face of their mark. "That's Lupa Dandaem, Quin's cousin," he threw out to no one in particular.

After him came the two other passengers. Jaeger and Qrow scanned the duo carefully. Both men knew that they had seen them before but they struggled to place them.

Then all of a sudden, it hit Jaeger. His eyes widened and fire flared up in them. _I know those faces, those feathers, those dresses, those eyes..._

"Qrow... those two girls are the twins that escaped the night Dax died."

Even though the elder huntsman was wearing a mask, Jaeger knew that Qrow's eyes had grown exponentially as well.

"Jaeger..." Qrow said with clear warning in his tone. His friend glared back at him, angry that his intentions were that clear.

"They didn't kill Dax," reminded Qrow.

A spiteful Jaeger turned his eyes back to their target. "You didn't tell me that he had escorts."

"He didn't. Today was the first time anyone came out of the car with him."

Both men knew how suspicious it was that Dandaem had 'escorts' the night that they were supposed to make their move.

"We need to bring him in for questioning. The fact that their are guards with him shouldn't matter," stated Jaeger, steeling himself for a fight, though he knew that some of that steel was forged by the fires of fury.

"We've fought them once before," said a hesitant Qrow.

"And we beat them," Jaeger fired back.

"With three other people by our side, Jaeger."

"And those girls were with a small army!"

Qrow glanced around, glad that the bustling streets had masked Jaeger's raised voice.

"Our mission was not to start a fight, Jaeger. We simply need to bring him in for questioning without the public's knowledge."

"And how do you suppose we do that with the twins following Dandaem everywhere he goes?"

Qrow furrowed his eyebrows, not having an answer to that question. He did, however, hope to to find the answer to another. "Why does Dandaem have guards tonight? There's no way that he knows we're tracking him."

"We must have a leak, Qrow. And I know that it wasn't someone at Beacon. No, this is because of someone at Atlas."

Both pondered the thought of a traitor in their circles, before noticing that Dandaem was already departing the club, with his 'bodyguards' following close behind.

"We need to move, Qrow. If there's a leak in Atlas, we can't afford for Dandaem to to continue his operations. He may be the boss of our mole, and if we cut Dandaem off, we can cut off the information flow to the Organization."

"Agreed," the elder huntsman responded as they both rose from their positions behind the parapet. They once again became ghosts of the night, flying across the rooftops while using the shadows to conceal themselves.

Jaeger and Qrow followed Dandaem into an alley a couple blocks away from the club. They got about half-way through the deserted back alley when Jaeger and Qrow suddenly dropped down in front of the trio, cutting off their path.

Qrow was first to speak. "Lupa Dandaem, we were sent to take you in for questioning. Come peacefully and we won't hurt you.

Jaeger eyed his friend suspiciously. _Where's this pacifism coming from? Usually he'd use death as an incentive._ "Come on. You know no member of the Dynasty Clan would ever surrender without a fight.

Dandaem smiled cockily at the duo standing in his way. "Your friend's right. No Clan member would go peacefully... Melanie, Miltia," he beckoned as the twins moved in front of him.

Behind his mask, Qrow grinned widely. _These girls don't remember us, or the fact that we're highly skilled huntsmen. Should be quick and easy._

And within a minute, the old crow was proven right.

The one that Dandaem had called Melanie flew at Jaeger with her heel-blades drawn. She tried to slice at his chest, but he took the blow head-on, using aura channelling to minimize the damage. His kevlar did the rest.

Reacting with incredible speed to Melanie's failed attack, Jaeger slammed a fist into her back, sending her reeling to the ground in pain.

Miltia fared slightly better against Qrow. She feinted to his right, so Qrow instinctively moved to his left. Miltia however had planned for that and sent a kick arcing at his right temple.

Being the younger, more rapid fighter, Miltia's strike landed before Qrow could fully dodge. He was able to avoid the brunt of the blow, but the kick was still strong enough to fling his head back momentarily.

Qrow was only on the back foot for a second, however. He ducked under another arcing kick before standing up slightly and landing a fast-paced barrage of punches to her solar plexus, sending her stumbling backwards in pain at the sheer force applied.

He followed that up with a spinning kick of his own, knocking her out with one blow to her head.

Qrow whirled around, spotting a motionless Dandaem on the floor and Melanie clawing at Jaeger's hand, which was dangling her a foot above the floor by the neck.

"Jaeger, put her down!" ordered Qrow. He knew that the only way to stop Jaeger was through diplomacy, because Jaeger would have beaten him in combat on any day.

"She worked for the man who killed Dax! She tried to kill us! And who knows what else she's done?!"

"And what will killing her do?"

"It'll be vengeance for Dax! I never got revenge for the deaths of any of my teammates! What good will it do if she stays alive? Her life is worth a fraction of Dax's!"

"And will it bring him back? Will killing her bring your teammates back? Tell me, Jaeger. What would Eve or Dax do? What would Raven do? Tell, me Jaeger. What would Chane want?!"

Jaeger's eyes suddenly widened, his breath hitched, and his hand began trembling as if he had been snapped out of a trance and was absolutely horrified with what he had done.

He released his grip on Melanie's windpipe, easing her down to the floor as he profusely repeated apologies to her.

"Look, I'm so sorry! I really am! Okay, just hold on. I'm gonna get you some medical help, okay! Oh my days, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me! I... I don't know what happened to me."

Melanie simply raised her eyebrows before smiling weakly at Jaeger. He pulled out his scroll and sent a message to Ozpin to summon a med van.

Qrow watched with curiosity, knowing that his former student was overreacting, but not willing to intervene because he rarely got to see the more caring side of Jaeger. In fact, he couldn't recall any scene like this that didn't predate Chane's death...

* * *

Jaeger apologized one last time to Melanie before leaving her to rest.

The van had quickly arrived and taken Melanie and the rueful Jaeger, who refused to leave Melanie's side, to Beacon's medical centre.

A containment bullhead had arrived to take Miltia and Dandaem, along with their soon-to-be interrogator Qrow, to a secret facility in Atlas. Before departing, Jaeger had told Qrow to hunt down and expose any possible leaks.

After a quick check-up, the doctor reported that Melanie was fine other than some minor bruising on her neck. Jaeger had still refused to abandon her until Melanie had convinced him that she was fine and that she had forgiven him.

He was about to exit the centre when he heard his name being called. Knowing exactly who's voice was beckoning him, he turned around and passed a couple of beds, separated into 'rooms' by hospital curtains, before turning into one on his left.

"Hey, Weiss," he greeted to his recovering student as he sat down next to her bed. It had only been a few hours since he had last seen her and already the heiress was looking much better.

 _I can probably chalk that up to her aura. Must be pretty strong if her wounds and bruises are already healed like this. Better take that into consideration when she's available to attend class again._

"How are you feeling?" he asked with concern.

Weiss smiled back at her friend. "I'm doing alright. They gave me some meds to ease the pain."

The two continued small talk for a couple of minutes before Weiss brought up an earlier conversation. "Hey, Jaeger, I was talking to Ruby earlier, and she was wondering why you hadn't apologized for what happened earlier. And, well, not that I'm asking for an apology, but, um... why didn't you apologize?"

Jaeger smiled, knowing the answer instantly, having given it to many people over his short life-time. "I didn't apologize because I didn't feel guilty for what had happened to you. Once you agreed to what the lesson was, you became responsible for yourself."

"While I am sorry for what happened to you, and while I wish that I could just donate aura to heal you, you knew the risks going in. And that is why I didn't apologize. While not everyone may agree with my opinion, it is what I believe. And it won't be changing any time soon."

Weiss nodded, her mind processing this principle that Jaeger had clearly established for himself a long time ago. Despite not really knowing what her opinion was herself, she couldn't find anything in his belief to argue against, and that was good enough for her.

The heiress decided to take control of the conversation. "So... what were you up to tonight? I saw you walk in with a girl. You were repeatedly apologizing to her."

Jaeger looked down in shame, not wanting Weiss to know what he was doing, but not wanting to lie to her either. "That was a criminal that I fought earlier tonight. She... we have bad history with each other."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "I almost crossed the line tonight, Weiss. I almost killed that girl. A part of me that I thought I had buried before coming to Beacon emerged, and I almost took her life for no plausible reason."

Weiss simply smiled, happy that someone was confiding in her. She took hold of his hand comfortingly. "Jaeger, if YOU were willing to kill her, then I think that she must have deserved it at least a little."

"No, Weiss, you don't understand. My teammates and I took an oath a short time after we had first formed into teams. We vowed that we would only kill someone if necessary. But tonight... tonight, that wasn't the case. I was ready to kill her simply for revenge."

"But you didn't. And from the look on her face, I think she's forgiven you. You didn't cross that line, Jaeger. Your vow is still unbroken."

Jaeger smiled at the white-haired beauty. While he had originally thought that he was to always be the one to instruct Weiss and help her to become a better person, that night, she was the one that helped him to realize the truth.

"Thank you, Weiss. For a long time, I haven't had someone to speak to like this. Even Pyrrha and I don't have the same relationship we used to. You're a good friend. And don't let your friends forget that."

They said their goodbyes for the night before Jaeger left for the launch pads, eager to get to Atlas as soon as possible. _I still have a lot to do and a lot to talk about, Dandaem. I would really appreciate it if you would be quick to spill to Qrow. That would be awesome. Sincerely, the Destroyer of Your Evil Organization._

* * *

The following noon...

Jaeger set down his stuff at a vacant table, scattering his bags and such in different seating spots to effectively reserve the table for his group. Yang soon joined him, sliding next to him.

"Hey Jaeger! Why didn't I get into your class?" said Yang as if it were the most normal question in the world.

"Um..." Jaeger trailed off as he frantically scrambled his mind for an answer. "Well... you see... there are a few requirements to get in. One of them having a, um... tactical mind, and well... you don't exactly fit the bill.

He watched tentatively as Yang stared at him for far too long for comfort, before she shrugged and went back to her usual upbeat and nonchalant air.

For a full minute, the two ate their food in peace before Jaeger felt the blonde suddenly freeze up. He turned his head to her, noticing that she was clearly about to say something, but it wasn't easy for her to spit out.

Yang finally steeled up enough to say what she was going to say. "Did you know my mother?"

Jaeger lowered his head, knowing that Yang's mother had left her soon after she had been born. "No, but I knew the rest of her team. Taiyang, Qrow, and Summer. I lived with Pyrrha for a few years, and her parents were hunters who studied and fought alongside of your mother's team. They frequently came to visit."

Jaeger gave a small chuckle. "I didn't even want to become a huntsman until Qrow began regaling his stories of his beautiful nieces that wanted to one day follow in their family's footsteps," said Jaeger while giving the blonde a wink.

"He told me of the stories that he would tell you two. Stories where he would tear a Grimm's head off with a single slice; stories of jumping off a cliff into endless waves of Grimm. I always anticipated his next visit, his next story."

Yang smiled, remembering those stories of fighting Grimm and rescuing people that he used to tell to her. _Who needs a fictional bedtime story when you have real ones told to you by your family?_

"So why'd you live with Pyrrha's family?" she asked, remembering his earlier mention of residing at the Nikos house.

"Well, I was an orphan. Her parents found me and took me in."

Yang listened intently, wanting to know more about the childhood of the famed Jaeger Banzai. "You're an orphan? What happened?"

Without a show of pain, Jaeger launched into his little backstory. "I was born in Elysium, a town in eastern Mistral. My parents were killed when I was eight. They went out on their sixth wedding anniversary and never came back. A mugger jumped them from an alley that they were passing."

"They had left me alone because even at such a young age, they knew that I could take care of myself for a couple of hours. Besides, they left me food and I had enough forms of entertainment to keep myself busy until they got back."

"Pyrrha's dad was patrolling two days after I was orphaned. He somehow found me, malnourished and almost unconscious. The doctors said that I could have died in two more days if he hadn't found me. Funny thing is, that was the only day in the next year that he would visit Elysium."

"He took me in and allowed me to live at his home. He and his wife were so kind and loving, and I got one of my best friends ever in Pyrrha. You know, while I sometimes wished that my parents had lived, I buried that longing a long time ago. I'm happy with the way it turned out."

His head had been lowered for most of the story, but once he had finished, Jaeger noticed that a small crowd had gathered. Teams RWBY and JNPR encircled him, and apparently even Port, Oobleck, Peach, and Goodwitch had decided to listen in. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Pyrrha standing supportively by his side.

"Alright, everyone get back to your food. That's enough of my past for today," ordered Jaeger, realizing that he had dropped into his story mode. He quickly grabbed all his personal belongings that he had laid out earlier to reserve seats for his friends.

The rest of the group fell into their usual raucous act, completely oblivious to Jaeger, who had fallen deep in thought about what they had learned from Dandaem the previous night.

* * *

 **AN: So yeah, a lot of stuff going on here in the longest chapter yet. And I was afraid that it would be the second shortest.**

 **By the way, did you guys like the changes I made? Jaeger's actions have obviously altered the way the Jaunedice arc went. But despite all the changed events, I still tried to get them to the same place as the anime, just through a different route. I hope I accomplished that goal.**

 **We get more of Jaeger's past. While it may seem that a lot of pieces have already fallen, trust me, the puzzle is still much bigger.**

 **So what did you guys think of Jaeger going to the edge? What did you guys think of the little cameos of Miltia and Melanie? Or the bigger role played by Qrow? Or the moment between Jaeger and Weiss (again)?**

 **And yes! The mystery of the Organization thickens!** **So yes, Jaeger and Qrow believe that 'Queen has Pawns' but they haven't confirmed it yet. And who are the mysterious Dynasty Clan, and what do they have to do with Quin? Who is Quin?**

 **Also, did anyone catch a little reference I made to a certain villain of the Flash? It was completely unintentional, but when I realized what I had done, I just had to let it stay.**

 **Anyway, remember to favourite, follow, and review. Criticism welcome!**

 **Also, the beta-reader spot is still open. It'd really help it if someone could help me out by filling the vacancy!**

 **Also, I just posted my bio, so be sure to check it out if you guys want to know a little bit more about me and stuff!**

 **All will be revealed next time! (Well not all, but just go along with the line for now.) Same Bat-time! Same Bat-channel!**


	8. Missing Persons

**AN: You know, I don't say this enough. You guys are AWESOME. Thank you for all the support so far, as well as all the criticism that has helped to construct a better fanfic.**

 **So, this chapter. I'm sorry that I couldn't get it done yesterday. I was out doing work and then going out to see Ant-Man! The movie was very funny and a very enjoyable time. I gave it a 7/10 in terms of how much I liked it, and a critical score of 4/5.**

 **Alright, I've been excited about a certain reveal in this chapter. Its kinda sorta subtle, I think. Maybe. But whatever. I hope you guys like it. As well as the rest of the chapter.**

 **Enjoy and happy reading!**

* * *

"TWO MORE LAPS! COME ON! LETS GO! LETS GO!" barked Jaeger as he watched his students finish their eight lap around the arches and aqueducts which circled Beacon's amphitheatre. Everyone, even Blake, Pyrrha, and Velvet were beginning to struggle with their rounds.

Everyone except Ruby. Even though Jaeger had restricted her from using her semblance, she was still the most energetic huntress on the block. And although she wasn't a faunus like Velvet or a champion athlete like Pyrrha, Ruby still led the line.

Ruby pushed herself more and more, looking to clock as fast a time as possible. _Need to be faster... need to be stronger... I can't let what happened to Weiss happen again._

The caped girl had been going through almost non-stop training in every spare moment that she had ever since Weiss had fractured her legs the week before. She had even taken up sparring with Pyrrha on the evenings that the redhead wasn't training Jaune.

 _How can we protect the world when we can't even protect ourselves?_

She didn't blame Weiss. She blamed herself. To the rose, Weiss got injured because Ruby hadn't been able to kill the White Beowolf. To Ruby, she was responsible for her partner's current condition.

* * *

"Finally, my young grasshoppers! Alright, take a breather and a swig of water. We resume in five," Jaeger informed his students.

Ruby was the first to flop down onto the grass below an arch, almost collapsing completely from exhaustion.

"Ugh," she whimpered as her friends joined her. "I need to trade places with Weiss. She doesn't need the rest as much as I do."

"Ruby, you ran all the way from the docks to Beacon on your birthday," Blake dead-panned.

"With my semblance."

"Same thing."

Jaeger smiled as the R and B of Team RWBY began bickering over whether or not Ruby should be tired from eight laps around the amphitheatre.

 _"BEEP!"_ rang Jaeger's scroll. He flicked open the message, almost chocking on air when he read the message.

"Jaeger, I need you to track down Quin," said Qrow's message.

Blake, having given up arguing with Ruby, noticed Jaeger's shell-shocked and almost fearful expression. She watched as he furiously tapped away on his scroll. _I've never seen him so frantic._

"Um, Jaeger, are you... alright?" Blake inquired.

Jaeger broke out of his frantic reverie at the sound of his name. "Hm?"

"I said, are you alright? You looked kind of crazy just a moment ago."

"Oh... um... yeah, I'm fine. I, um, I just got a message from an old friend about another old friend. I'm gonna meet him tomorrow... hopefully."

Blake nodded after a moment, reluctantly accepting his clear lie. Pyrrha, however, refused to take her suspicious gaze off of her best friend. Jaeger noticed the questioning look in her eyes and pulled out his scroll again.

"That was Qrow. He wants me to find Q," he typed and sent to the redhead.

A worried look plastered itself of Pyrrha's face as she read the message. "We don't know what he's like now," her text response read.

"That's what I told Qrow. But he said that Quin has something to do with the Organization," Jaeger transcribed. "Gonna find him tomorrow morning. Q always liked an early breakfast on the town."

Pyrrha looked at Jaeger with warning in her eyes. He returned a determined eye at his best friend. _If he's connected to the organization, I have to find Quin. I have to do it; for Raven; for Eve; for Chane._

"Alright, guys, break's over! Split up into pairs. I want you guys to spar for five minutes before breaking up into new pairs. Now there's only five of you, so while the other four are sparring, I suggest that the partnerless fifth take a breather you need to, but I want each of you to have fought the other four before half-an-hour is up. Go!" he instructed, giving himself time to consider how in the dust he would track down one of the greatest covert operatives in Vytal's history.

* * *

At noon...

"Dad, I'll be fine. The doctor said that I have an impacted fracture in each of my legs. They don't know how long I'll be hospitalized yet because there are several bone fragments in between the main break. I might be here for months," said Weiss sadly to her father, who she was speaking to via video call on their scrolls. The nurse had helped Weiss to set it up.

"But I'm glad that you finally found time to check up on me. It means a lot to me, Dad," she said as tears began to trickle down her face.

Mr. Schnee himself was struggling to pull himself together. The past five minutes of conversation had been a very emotional roller-coaster of spite, apologies, and forgiveness. "I'm sorry that it took... this... to get me to put you before the Company. If you want, I can come and visit you. Winter can hold the fort for a day, or even longer if you want."

Weiss shook her head as she wiped away a few tears that were trickling down her face. "No... no, you don't need to come down. I'm fine. The medical staff here are highly trained, and the facilities are top of the line. Plus, I have a lot of friends that care for me and keep me company."

The CEO smiled at his daughter, happy that she was happy. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you before. But trust me, I will make it up to you. I'll come visit during your holidays. I'd like to inspect the academy and meet your friends and teachers myself."

The heiress nodded slightly. "I'd like that, Dad."

Her father beamed back at her. "So, tell me about your team. What are your teammates like? Are they as skilled as you?"

"Well, we're an all-girls team. There's Yang. She's a brawler, but she has the biggest heart. She's very... rambunctious. But while Yang can get... vexing... at times, she's a great friend."

"Then we have Blake. She is the reserved member on our time, but she's smart and informed. In fact, in our first conversation, she bashed the Company for your practices and methods." Her father's face didn't change, still unfazed by criticisms hurled at the way he ran his company.

"Blake is a bibliophile, and while I wouldn't exactly dive into some of her reading material, she does read a lot of books that have made her very intelligent. Its very enjoyable to have someone on my team who can hold an intelligent conversation."

"And finally, there is Ruby, my partner, and our leader. She's Yang's sister. Ruby is two years younger than the rest of us. And while her immaturity got to me at first, some teachers taught me that she can become a great leader. And they convinced me that I need to help Ruby to reach her potential."

"We're still a ragtag team of huntresses-in-training, but we're getting stronger as a unit. And we're getting stronger as a team because our friendships are getting stronger. And despite their flaws and irritating characteristics, I wouldn't have us any other way."

Her father nodded contently at Weiss' answer. "And what about your friends. Any boys I need to speak to?

"Dad!" reprimanded Weiss, triggering a chortle from her father.

"Well, is there?"

Weiss settled down for a moment as she seriously considered her dad's query. "Well, there is a guy I kinda like. He's been considerate to me during my time here so far, and we've become friends in this short amount of time. I'm not really sure how I feel about him, though. I guess I need more time to think about it."

"Is he a freshman as well?"

"Well... he's actually... he's already a huntsman."

"So... is he, like, a senior?"

"No... he's an actual huntsman; already graduated from Beacon."

"Oh...," her father trailed off as he realized what his daughter was saying.

"He's only a few years older than us here, but he's already taken up a teaching position at the academy. He's... well... he's the guy that took us on the field lesson that landed me here."

Mr. Schnee frowned at this new bit of information. "You like the guy who got your legs broken?"

"No! I mean, I don't know. We're just friends right now. As I already stated, I don't know if I feel anything more than friendship with him. I just care about him, and I know that he cares a lot for me, for all of us."

"But, if I were at the market, he would be the kind of guy I would be looking for."

* * *

Later that afternoon...

Jaeger and Weiss watched boredly as Blake thrashed Yang and Ruby at chess. For the past few days, Jaeger, Blake, Ruby, and Yang had spent their lunchtimes and an hour or so after school in the medical bay with Weiss.

"Hey, I thought you guys came down here to entertain me," said an irritated Weiss, who was fast growing tired of Blake's Queen annihilating the sisters' ranks.

"Weiss, I know that both you and I would rather have this than what happened yesterday," Jaeger said with a bit of a shiver.

The white-haired beauty also shuddered slightly as she recalled Yang's attempt to seduce Jaeger. She had bet ten Lien that she could seduce the huntsman in five minutes.

Those extremely uncomfortable minutes. Yang tied him up to a chair and tried to accomplish her task, but at the end of those five minutes, Jaeger was still standing, or rather sitting. Although his resolve had been weathered quite a bit.

"I have to sadly agree with you on that one," Weiss responded agonizingly as she and Jaeger fist-bumped.

Spiritless to continue playing more games, Blake suggested that they all just sit down and keep Weiss company.

"You know, I just want to thank you guys for coming down here so much. There's no one else here to keep me company. I even miss talking to Melanie," Weiss stated gratefully.

"Yeah, what actually happened to her, Jaeger?" Yang inquired to the huntsman.

"She was moved to a detention centre, where she's gonna stay until she has to stand trial," came the reply.

A lull came over the room as that topic of conversation dissipated.

"My father video called me earlier," Weiss suddenly informed. Her friends looked at her curiously, urging her to divulge some details. They knew about the rough relationship between the father and daughter, and wanted to know if their conversation had simply degenerated into a fight.

"He apologized," she said, making a few eyebrows rise as a result, "He said sorry for all the years that he wasn't there for me. He said sorry for always putting the company before his family. He even said that he would visit during the holidays to try and make up for all our lost years."

"Did you guys talk about anything else? You know, stuff that a father and daughter might talk about?" Ruby asked, wondering if anyone had conversations like those that she had with her own father.

"Well, we talked about our team, and my injuries, and school, and b... other stuff..."

Her quartet of friends eyed her suspiciously as she obviously avoided saying something else.

"What kind of other stuff?" Yang pried.

"Y-you know, stuff... that I can't tell you guys..."

"Oh, like company secrets?" said Yang, clearly not following the right path of inquiry.

"Y-y-yeah... that's it. Company secrets," 'confirmed' a flustered Weiss.

While Yang was content with that, the rest of the group saw straight through the heiress' lie.

"Weiss, you said 'b...other stuff...'. Company secrets doesn't begin with a b," Blake pointed out.

The frustrated white-haired huntress glared at her teammate. "Am I prying into all your conversations? Some things aren't for your ears," she spat out venomously.

"Whoa, calm down, Weiss," reprimanded her partner, trying to help placate the fencer with hand on her shoulder. And it worked, as the steam eventually stopped piping out of the ears of the overreacting beauty.

"Speaking of getting serious, you've been kinda grim, Jaeger," Ruby pointed out.

"Yeah, you were like a slave-master earlier," added Blake.

"I'm sorry, guys. Its... its just that... today would've been the twenty-first birthday of one of my teammates."

Blake's look softened as she remembered hearing about Jaeger's dead team. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. Which one?"

Having lowered his head as he spoke, Jaeger lifted his head to look at the raven-haired huntress. "It would've been Chane's birthday."

Weiss placed a hand on top of Jaeger's in an attempt to alleviate his grave mood. "Sprry, I can't remember who she was. Were you close to her?"

Jaeger nodded slowly before responding, "She was my girlfriend of three years."

Another lull settled in the room as Jaeger pulled his hand away from Weiss' and ran it through his jet-black hair. After a minute of silence, he rose from his chair.

"I need to go now. Got some stuff to clear up before I meet up with Pyrrha. We're doing something later on, so I'll see you guys when I see you," he informed as he headed for the exit. "I'm sorry that I killed the mood. You guys just enjoy yourselves, and Weiss, you get some rest.

"Bye," came the collective solemn farewell from Team RWBY as he shut the door behind him and departed for Team JNPR's room.

* * *

Later that evening...

Jaeger, decked out in black jogging pants and a red shirt from the Vytal festival two years ago, rapped twice on Team JNPR's door with his knuckles. He was made to wait for only a few seconds before the champion that he wanted to see appeared before him. The redhead wore navy blue jeans, a green woolly sweater, and a scarlet red woolly scarf.

"Hey Jaeg."

"Hey Pyr."

That was the one moment of conversing that took place as they went to the woods behind Beacon Academy. They found an oval clearing and set their things down. The duo continued their contemplative silence as they set out to pitch a tent for themselves. They finished after around five minutes, having a lot of experience with pitching tents prior to that night.

Jaeger gathered some rocks while Pyrrha used Miló's sword form to chop up tree branches. Together they constructed a camp fire about a dozen feet from their tent. After that, Jaeger pulled out a small red dust crystal from his belt and smashed it into dust on the ground next to the campfire. With a flick of his hand, the dust flew onto the wood. As he rapidly put his hand into a fist and straightened his fingers out again, the dust began to spark and flare until all the wood was set alight.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha had gone back to the tent to get deck chairs, which she promptly set out for the pair. They relaxed into the chairs and began to silently observe the glistening moon and stars.

"I've missed nights like these," Pyrrha said to her companion as she reminisced of days long passed.

"What, nights with a full moon and a whole bunch of constellations visible?" asked Jaeger.

Pyrrha smiled back at him. "No... nights where you and I just... hang out. I remember when we used to hike up hills and stargaze while my parents were gone when we were younger. Its... I missed you a lot after Chane died, and I've enjoyed hanging out with you here at Beacon."

Jaeger grimaced, still remorseful that he had pushed away everyone he knew after the deaths of his teammates. "Thank you... for being here tonight. You know that it means a lot to me that you want to continue this tradition."

"It's what Chane would've wanted, and she was like a sister to me," she responded. The two thought back to years past when Team CREJ and Pyrrha would camp out and stargaze while around campfire on Chane's birthday.

They observed the stars for half-an-hour before Pyrrha turned to Jaeger with a serious look. "Do you want to go visit her now?"

Jaeger let out a deep breath before reluctantly nodding. "Yeah, let's go."

* * *

The two trudged out past the Beacon forest to a hill behind the academy. At the foot of the hill were planted four small gravestones in a row. The pair of best friends homed in on the second gravestone. On it was engraved nothing but a quote: Light in the darkness, and a name: Chane Isabella.

"She would've been twenty-one today," Jaeger reminded his best friend.

They stared at the gravestone for a moment before Pyrrha slowly approached and knelt down before it.

"We missed you tonight. Jaeger had to start the fire in your place."

The redhead chuckled to herself before tears started to pour down her face.

"I-I've missed you so much, Ch-Chane. You were like a big sister to me. A-a-and its been harder without someone to talk to. You know that there are things I can't talk to Jaeger about," she joked, lifting her mood significantly.

"I just want to thank you, Chane. You were such an amazing friend. I don't even know where I would be if you hadn't been there to guide me."

"And I want to thank you for being there for Jaeger. I was blessed by how your love affected him. You were an amazing person and an amazing friend. You were a sister to all and you did so much for the world. Happy birthday, Chane. I love you and will always love you, big sis."

Pyrrha rose from her position and used her scarf to wipe the flood of tears that had flowed out. She continued to stand in front of the gravestone as Jaeger moved next to her and dropped to his knees in front of it.

"H-hey, Chane. As Pyrrha said, we missed you tonight. I wish you had been there to light the campfire."

A single tear streamed down his cheek as he slowly continued.

"Its... its just so hard being here without you. These past fifteen months have been the most difficult months of my life."

"But a few months ago, I remembered what you told me when Dax died. You told me to never let the past get in the way of the future. And I'm not. I've made new friends and I've rebuilt my relationship with Pyrrha."

"But the thing that I think is most significant is the fight I've joined. You know that organization that we were investigating the night you died? Yeah, well... I found out from a cousin of Quin's that they are the same organization that Qrow and I are investigating."

"They've grown a lot more powerful in the past fifteen months. They've got the White Fang and the Dynasty Clan cooperating with them in some massive op, and our fear is that that is only the beginning."

"But I won't let them succeed. I will destroy the Organization that killed you; that is causing so much damage to the world. I will avenge you, and Raven, and Eve, and even Dax. I just wish you could be here with me to take them down."

"And even though you always said that I was the one who rescued you, its been the memories of you that have rescued me these past few months."

"Okay, I'm gonna go now and get some rest. I have to get up early to track down someone from the Organization. But before I go, I have to repeat something that I never told you enough."

"I love you, Chane. You are still the flame to the candle of my heart. Happy birthday, my beautiful Cinder."

* * *

 **AN: Yes, what you read in the previous line is true. I did not accidentally capitalize Cinder. Chane, Jaeger's "dead" girlfriend and teammate, and Cinder Fall, a member of the Organization that "killed" her and two of her teammates, are one and the same. Cinder is Jaeger's nickname for Chane that he used when directly addressing her.**

 **By the way, I have a question. I'm not really happy with the first chapter. If you guys are, which you probably aren't, please tell me. I'm seriously thinking about rewriting it, and I'm guessing that you guys would probably like a rewrite as well.**

 **Next up, Forever Fall!**

 **So, did you guys like that chapter? What did you think of certain reveals? I'm gonna make this AN short, so I'll just say: please feel free to share your thoughts and questions in a PM or a review. And don't forget to follow and favourite. Hasta la vista, baby!**


	9. The Heat Is On

**AN: Hey guys! What's up? So first of all, I want to announce that the rewrite of the first chapter is up! Please go check that out because its better than the original and it adds a bit to the fanfic as a whole. Actually, there's a bit in this that refers to that new (old) chapter, so be sure to check it out first.**

 **So I finally saw Justice League: Gods and Monsters (I've seen Chronicles as well), and... well... I gave it 5/10 personally and 3/5 critically. It was just meh.**

 **Anyway, these have been a hectic past few days, so the update time is longer than usual. I'm gonna say now that it will probably take 2-4 days for a new chapter to go up for now, because I've got quite a few things going on within the next couple of weeks or so.**

 **Next, I want to give a shout-out to DePlexx and redlerred7. DePlexx has been a supporter of this fanfic for some time now, and he has really helped me with constant encouragement.**

 **redlerred7 is a reader who was very critical of the first three chapters and dropped this fanfic, but then decided to read the fourth and liked it quite a bit. Thank you for your criticisms. There are some that you highlighted that I am aware of and am trying to amend, but some that I didn't realize were as serious as they are.**

 **So I want to say thank you to those two and I hope that everyone continues to enjoy. Happy reading!**

* * *

The morning dew was just settled as the break of dawn arrived. The rising sun bathed the forest in a beautiful golden haze; the moist on the flora glistening in the glorious light.

The sun slowly rose from behind a hill; uninhabited save for one soul at its foot. Standing solemnly over four gravestones, he stared at them silently and without motion.

For five minutes, the figure stayed like this, until his lips began to move slowly.

"Dax... Eve... Raven... Chane... I-I'm... Today I'm going to track down Q. Qrow thinks that he's sided with the Clan. And you know that if Qrow suspects someone that he's probably close to the truth."

The figure slowly rotated around and stalked away without a goodbye. He walked in silence for a moment as he approached the tree line, before a feminine voice called out to him.

He lifted his head up to see a stunning redhead leaning against a tree; her eyes looking at him with concern.

"Hey Pyr," he greeted emotionlessly.

"Hey Jaeger. You ready to go find Quin?" Pyrrha inquired. Jaeger had informed her of his 'morning itinerary' before they went to sleep the previous night. Separately, of course. Same tent, different sleeping bags. (I know what some of you were thinking; dirty minds)

"Yeah. You're staying for a bit, so is it alright if you pack the stuff and take it back to Beacon. I need to leave, like, now," he asked, getting a nod of affirmation in response. Jaeger thanked her quickly before setting off for Beacon's airship pads.

Pyrrha's worried gaze followed her departing friend. "Take care," she whispered. She was concerned over what Jaeger would do, and how reckless he could become, after the rant about the Organization that he had delivered last night.

"Don't die out there," whispered Pyrrha, sounding almost like she was trying to convince herself that Jaeger was fine. But she knew him better than that. She could sense the fury brewing underneath the calm exterior.

* * *

"He's not anywhere!" Jaeger whispered to himself in annoyance. He had canvassed the town three times now, and still he couldn't find Quin. Giving up on directly seeking out his mark, Jaeger decided to try going to the crime syndicate that Ozpin had finally tracked down the base of—the Dynasty Clan.

He got back in his black sedan—which had stayed at his home while he was at Beacon—and drove off to the Five Diamonds Casino, the new base of operations of the Dynasty Clan.

After an uneventful half-hour of driving, he pulled into a car park two blocks down from the casino. _Don't want my car in the car park of the casino if I need a getaway. They'd just have it destroyed the moment I try to run._

He strolled down the pavement with purpose, gearing himself up for the task that lay ahead. He crossed the street and came up to the extravagant casino. Traversing the maroon carpet, he kept an eye out for any members of the Dynasty family.

Five minutes of searching brought him to the bar, where he spotted one of the people he was looking for. He took a seat next to the burly man, who was wearing a navy blue blazer and trousers, with a white shirt and violet tie.

"I'll just have a glass of water," he said to the bartender.

A deep laugh sounded from the large man next to him. "You don't drink, Banzai?"

"Nope. Drink hazes my thoughts. I need to have a clear mind at all times."

"And what about those days when you need to drink your sorrows away?"

"Drinking to get away from life and emotions is for cowards. I prefer to face the situation, no matter how bad."

That triggered another hearty laugh from the giant. "Good answer. So, what brings you to out humble casino?"

Jaeger turned to face the other man. "Quin."

A frown set itself on the face of the Dynasty Clan member. He narrowed his eyes at Jaeger. "We have no connection to that traitor."

"He's your brother, Kray," Jaeger stated.

"No!" shouted the giant as he slammed his fist into the counter. He looked around at the jolted patrons around him before lowering the volume of his voice.

"He's not my brother," Kray pointed out. "When you betray the family, you are no longer part of it."

"But I know that you're keeping tabs on him," Jaeger responded firmly, continuing to press for information.

"So what if we are?" Kray said before downing another glass. "What makes you think I'd tell anything to a huntsman? You guys are the reason that Quin is a traitor."

Jaeger glared back at him. "I need to find Q. Now, we have Lupa Dandaem in our custody, as well as his two bodyguards. I'm sure they are of some value to you, and I think we can work out a deal that benefits both of us."

Kray's glower morphed into a satisfied grin. "Forget them three. Keep them. You're a huntsman willing to bargain lives for information. I like that, so I'll just come out and give it to you. Not like we're going to benefit from knowing Quin's location."

Another drink went down Kray's throat as he continued. "My dearest brother is currently in Atlas, working a pro-faunus charity event. He'll be there for the next three days."

Jaeger nodded, offering a simple thank you before heading for the exit. _Time to call up Qrow about this..._

* * *

"They dangerous, Ozpin!" Jaeger yelled, completely aghast at what Ozpin was suggesting. He had come to Ozpin's office to tell him that he had found Quin, but was outraged when Ozpin himself delivered some 'news' of his own.

"And that is why I am asking YOU to train them. You are the most capable teacher here to 'reform' them," the Beacon Academy headmaster explained as if oblivious to the ridiculousness of what he was asking of the young teacher. "You did it with Chane."

"Don't you dare bring her into this, Ozpin! That was a completely different case and you know it! I was her only friend. Those twins are mercs; not to mention the fact that they've tried to kill me on two separate occasions!"

Ozpin leaned forward, resting his elbows on top of his desk, forming an arch out of his arms. He placed his chin onto his clasped hands; taking a deep breath as he prepared to take another stab at Jaeger's resolve.

"Jaeger, you must understand my reasoning behind this. Melanie and Miltia are of no further use to the investigation at the moment. In two days, they will be transferred from their detention centre to the Triskelion. And I would rather try to rehabilitate the twins than straight away subject them to prison. Incarceration isn't usually good for the juvenile. Besides, you know how people can turn out when they are released from jail."

The younger glared at the elder for the insinuation in that last remark. "You need to stop trying to use my past against me. It's not helping your case. Neither what happened with Chane nor my parents has anything to do with this, so I would appreciate it if neither cases are brought up in relation. Now, I'll fulfil your request, but only because you think that I can help those mercs."

His smouldering gaze continued to burn into Ozpin's as the offended party rose out of his seat.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a bullhead headed for Forever Fall that's waiting for me. Good day, Ozpin," he spat out venomously as he headed out of Beacon's principal's office.

Said principal was left pondering his own actions; wondering if he had gone too far by using the deaths of three significant people in Jaeger's life for his cause.

* * *

Pyrrha eyed Jaeger suspiciously the whole way to Forever Fall. While he appeared to be happily conversing with Team RWBY, the redhead knew him well enough to sense a hint of anger in his air. She wasn't sure if it was in his eyes, his tone, or his body language, but she was adamant that her best friend was raging at something. _What if he's still carrying some of that rage towards the Organization that broke out after we visited Chane's grave last night._

Her thoughts were interrupted as Miss Goodwitch informed them that they had arrived at Forever Fall. The airship eased down in a clearing in the red forest, allowing its passengers to depart. Goodwitch informed the pilot that they would be about an hour.

The students, accompanied by Jaeger and Glynda, trudged for a minute across the blanket of fallen leaves.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful," Goodwitch said. "But, we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest."

Jaeger smirked. _If only they knew that most of the sap they collect will be going towards Peach's experiments on stopping dead Grimm corporeal._

"And Mr. Banzai and I are here to make sure that none of you die while doing so," Glynda said in an insouciant tone. After she explained the task that they had to fulfil, the students dispersed into their teams, going off to get their jars of sap.

The field trip was uneventful. No Grimm showed up, and Jaeger spent most of the time talking to students and restraining Nora from slurping up all of Team JNPR's sap.

Everyone gathered promptly at the agreed rendezvous point at 4 o'clock. Glynda cleared her throat before speaking, "Well done, students, for completing the task. Now, can all students except Mr. Banzai's class please make their way back to the airship."

Jaeger's surprised students eyed him suspiciously as he gave them a knowing grin. He waited until the other students were out of earshot before explaining.

"As you know, we are supposed to have class today. And I thought that we'd kill two birds with one stone by having class after the trip."

His smile turned into a slight frown as he remembered the other detail that he had reveal. "Today, we will be joined by two girls who Ozpin requested they join."

Right on cue, a bullhead flew into the air directly above the group. The doors opened, and five figures jumped down on static cables. As they touched down, the five students saw that the new group included two similar-looking young girls in extravagant clothes and three Atlesian Knights, but they white and black rather than black with red highlights. The two girls were cuffed, a condition that the AKs promptly resolved.

The eyebrows of all the pupils, save for Velvet, shot up as they recognized Melanie, the criminal who had been admitted to Beacon's medical centre the week before. Pyrrha especially was eyeing Jaeger with suspicion, as she knew of the history between Jaeger and the twins.

"Girls, Ren, this is Melanie and Miltia," Jaeger introduced, trying his best to mask his spite at the twins' presences. _Alright, I have to at least try to be friendly with them. I've been trying to get Weiss to accept the faunus. Lead by example, Jaeger._

He drew in a deep breath before noticing that Ruby was drooling at the Atlesian Knights. He smiled at the scythe-wielder, who was squealing like a kid in a toy shop. "I guess there's no hiding from Ruby that these three are a new AK model. They're AK-200s, set to be unveiled later this year. Although I do personally prefer the 130 design, 'cause red and black is awesome," he said, earning a vertical high five from the young girl. The Atlesian Knights returned to the bullhead soon after.

"Now, I've been putting you guys through rigorous physical training for the past week. That's because I want you guys, along with Melanie and Miltia, to fight two huntsmen," Jaeger revealed, eliciting a collective gasp from the group, especially from the twins, who had been overwhelmingly thrashed by Jaeger just a week prior. "My original plan was to have you guys split into to teams and fight each other, but now there's an odd number because of what happened with Weiss..."

His regular students nodded while Melanie, who had spent time with Weiss in Beacon's hospital ward, explained to Miltia what Jaeger was referring to.

"So... where is the other huntsman?" piped Ruby.

"Well, I'm glad you asked," a voice said dramatically. The owner of the voice dropped down from inside a tree crown above. Melanie and Miltia's eyes widened and Ruby's jaw dropped as they realized who it was.

"Uncle Qrow?!" cried the caped girl.

Jaeger smiled at his startled friend before loudly clapping his hands together, gaining the attention of everyone. "First of all, this is Qrow. He's a huntsman, teacher at Signal, and uncle to Yang and Ruby."

"Now, one more thing. No semblances. I want you guys to learn to not rely on your powers."

He then spotted Ruby's raised hand. "Um, Jaeger, didn't you almost get beaten by Pyrrha in our first combat class?"

The young huntsman laughed heartily. "I think you'll find that I'm a lot tougher when I'm not holding back."

He drew out his axe and brandished it threateningly at his students. "Alright, ready? Three, two, one, GO!"

* * *

Blake morphed Gambol Shroud into its kusarigama form and swung it across the ground underneath the two trained huntsmen. Her targets leapt into the trees to dodge her attack.

Ren fired at the fleeing Qrow, while Ruby unleashed a barrage at Jaeger, who stood his ground on a branch and spun Virtus Incerno, creating a shield for himself. When Ruby exhausted a cartridge and paused to reload, Jaeger took his chance and vanished into the tree canopy.

Velvet and Pyrrha, who Jaeger had taken to pairing together during training, chased after Qrow. They flew up into the trees and bounded after the older huntsman. Pyrrha flung Akoúo̱ at his back, but the scythe-wielder spun around mid-leap, and, despite the velocity that the shield was travelling at, managed to deflect it into the ground with his weapon.

His momentary occupation with Akoúo̱ provided Velvet with an opening. The faunus rocketed at him and tried to land a kick to his head, but he instinctively reacted by grabbing her leg and throwing her into a tree stock. Her back slammed into the wood as he landed on another branch and dropped to the floor.

Ren swung the blades of StormFlower at Qrow's neck; the older huntsman leaning back enough to narrowly dodge each time. Seeing Ren occupying Qrow, Pyrrha decided to strike, thrusting Miló at Qrow's chest from her perch in the trees.

Qrow decked Ren and grabbed StormFlower from the reserved boy, using the blades of the dual SMGs to catch the tip of Miló in between them. Ren flipped back up to his feet as Pyrrha leapt down. The duo circled Qrow, waiting for a chance to pounce.

* * *

Jaeger meanwhile was under from Blake and Ruby. The bowed girl, swiping with Gambol Shroud in its katana form, was alternating between Jaeger's head and legs as a target. The huntsman was lighting-fast, however, and easily intercepted each strike with Virtus Incerno.

Ruby came up behind Jaeger and tried to deck him, but he was fast on his feet and hopped over her arcing leg before ducking under a slash from Blake at his head. He then knocked the legs out from under the katana-wielder and leapt backwards, flipping over Ruby. She arced Crescent Rose into the air at Jaeger, but her blade instead locked with Virtus Incerno's. As Jaeger began to drop down behind Ruby, he pulled on Virtus Incerno—still locked with Crescent Rose—wresting the scythe from Ruby's grip.

A head of black hair flew at him from behind with a cleaver, but he was keenly aware of his surroundings and rapidly blocked the blow. He ducked under another swing before slamming the blunt side of Virtus Incerno's blade into the bottom of Gambol Shroud's blade—the sheer power of Jaeger's blow knocking the cleaver to the ground a couple of feet away from the clashing duo.

The caped girl got up and joined Blake in hand-to-hand combat with Jaeger. He blocked an elbow from Blake before catching a punch from Ruby—twisting her arm and flipping her into the ground. He then blocked two more swings from Blake by knocking them to either side of her, before unleashing a powerful flurry of punches at her solar plexus. He was about to land a knockout blow to her temple when Ruby's foot slammed into his side.

With Blake clutching her abdomen in pain, Jaeger saw an opportunity to finish the fight. He channelled aura into his side to numb the pain before feinting to Ruby's left. He then swiftly landed a hook to her right temple. She wasn't going down easily, however, and dodged a kick prior to making a dash for Crescent Rose. She grabbed the scythe while sliding on the ground; transforming Crescent Rose into her sniper rifle form.

Seeing that she was going to try to barrage him with bullets, Jaeger decided to reveal one of the other forms of Virtus Incerno. He pressed a couple of buttons, which cause the blade to transform into a block, before it turned itself inside out, revealing a padded gun handle. The pole of the axe split into two, the further half turning backwards. Two large rectangular cartridges slid out of the bottom of the two half-beams. In a matter of seconds, the axe had morphed into a dual-barrel Gatling gun.

Before Ruby even had time to get around what had just happened, Jaeger opened fire. He directed the hail of slugs at the ground in front of Ruby; the sheer power and velocity kicking up a cloud of dust. With Ruby's line of sight obscured, Jaeger rushed at her, slamming the butt of Virtus Incerno's Gatling gun form into her face. The scythe-wielder immediately dropped to the floor unconscious upon impact.

Jaeger turned around to see Blake still holding her abdomen in pain. He had promised not to hold back, and put his full strength behind his punches. Looking around, he suddenly realized that two other people were missing—Miltia and Melanie.

He frowned, looking intently into the trees for any sign of the twins. That's when he felt a tremor in the ground. Then another. Then another. Each time, the quake grew more powerful. The teacher looked over to Blake, who was staring back at him with worry.

All of a sudden, a scream ripped through the air. They both looked towards the direction that the cry had come from, but what they saw instead was a forest alight with fire. BOOM! Another quake rippled through the ground below. Jaeger immediately made a dash for Ruby, heaving her onto his shoulders. He also collapsed Crescent Rose and latched it onto his belt. _The bombing... this is the start of the bombing that I discovered the plans for last month. I've got to get everyone out of here._

"Blake, focus on the area of pain. Imagine your aura flowing there!" he instructed as he pulled out his scroll and called for an emergency transport. After explaining the situation, he was informed that a bullhead could be scrambled to his location within five minutes. He was instructed to keep running. The transport would just find him through the GPS in his scroll.

"Alright Blake. We have to go. I know a cave nearby. Just follow me!" he ordered as he dashed forward. He could feel the shock-waves emanating from the ground behind him, pushing himself to run even faster. His notable strength and stamina, combined with the rush of adrenaline, allowed him to carry Ruby while sprinting. He glanced behind him momentarily, seeing that Blake—with Gambol Shroud attached to her side—was just behind him. While she was still clearly in pain, it looked as if she had managed to subside it substantially with minor aura channeling.

After another twenty seconds of running, he heard the faint sounds of his, Ruby's, and Blake's names being called. Both Jaeger and Blake began shouting the names of the missing party. Gradually, the shouting from the other portion of the class began to grow stronger and stronger until the shouters were faintly visible.

Jaeger was about to dash over to them when he saw that Blake was wheezing. Her tiredness from several minutes of running at top speed was made worse by the pain in her throbbing side. Her teacher stopped and pondered on the situation for a moment before moving Ruby onto his right shoulder. He walked over to Blake and, without asking permission or saying anything, slung her over his left shoulder. He then began to pace over to the rest of his class, still running at full speed. _I won't let anyone else die on my watch. And definitely not to explosions. I've lost one too many that way already._

Another minute of sprinting finally joined the two parts of the class again. Melanie and Miltia had apparently gone after Qrow as well, but were waiting in the shadows as they didn't have strong weapons like the Beacon students. Melanie herself was currently unconscious, as was Velvet. The faunus was in the arms of Pyrrha, while Qrow had hoisted the unconscious mercenary onto his shoulders. Jaeger was about to hand Ruby to Ren when Blake said that she was up to running again.

The battered and bruised party was informed by Jaeger of his plan, and they set off again for the cave. All around them, trees were being lit up by fire, but they powered on undeterred. After another two minutes of tiring sprinting, the cave was in sight.

"Ahhh!" cried Miltia as another explosion happened just behind her. The rest of the group stopped and looked back to see that the conscious twin had fallen because of the force of the explosion. Blake rushed over to the girl and helped her up. It was then that another bomb hit a tree right next to Blake. Too tired to react in time, her was knocked down by a fallen branch, before another, heavier branch trapped her legs. Thankfully, both branches weren't on fire.

Ren ran over to Blake, throwing the first branch off her with ease. He struggled, however, with the second, weightier tree limb. Seeing this, Jaeger quickly handed Ruby to Qrow before ordering everyone except Ren and Blake to dash into the safety of the cave. He ran over to help Ren, noting that the fire was inching closer and closer to the branch that they were trying to heave.

Jaeger looked up, noticing that there hadn't been another explosion yet. Good thing he looked up, too, because he spotted another missile being launched from a bullhead above. Both he and Ren doubled their efforts to remove the branch, but still they couldn't lift it enough to remove it. They couldn't simply pull Blake out from under because it was requiring both of them to simply lift it a couple of inches.

After a few seconds, Jaeger heard the whistling of the missile directly above. Without taking time to think, he shoved Ren as far away as possible before laying himself on top of Blake, acting as a human shield. He spread his dust-laced cape over himself, providing a thin bit of protection. He also channelled as much aura as he could into the back part of his body in anticipation of the strike.

"AAGGGGHHHHH!" screamed Jaeger in extreme anguish as the small missile made contact with and exploded into his back. He could feel fire on him, and was in extreme agony, yet he still got up and tried to move the branch again. Ren dashed to help his teacher, while Qrow bolted out from the sanctuary of the cave to help, as they finally heaving the branch off of Blake.

Jaeger continued to scream and shout throughout the whole affair. He lay on the floor, unable to control his body because of the outrageous pain he was in. _Or maybe the explosion destroyed some of the nerves my muscles; maybe that's why I can't move._

"Q-q-qrow..." he gasped as he tried to hold his pained shouts in. "G-get u-us to s-safet-ty." Blake held his hand tightly as Qrow lifted Jaeger into his arms. The younger huntsman stared at the pained and distressed face of Blake, who was still giving him a reassuring smile and comfortingly holding his hand. He tried to focus as long as possible on her before slipping into unconsciousness...

* * *

Weiss groaned as she was awoken by the sounds of frantic shouts and a gurney being wheeled in to her left. The heiress groggily opened her eyes to see what was going on.

Six medics surrounded the gurney next to her; some looked like they were operating on someone, while others were setting up monitors and IVs and other medical stuff. _They probably haven't bothered to draw the curtains because they think I'm asleep._

She tried to crane her neck to see what was going on but the medics were completely obstructing her view. After a few moments of unsuccessfully trying to get a peek, she gave up.

It was then that she noticed that the pain in her legs was getting sharp again, so she pressed a button on a remote on her side to send some painkillers coursing through an IV and into her body. While it didn't remove the pain, it did help to negate some of it. She winced as the pain got especially sharp for a second.

That's when she heard it. The excruciating cry of agony and pain that roared from the bed next to hers. The roars kept getting louder and more pained; like someone was ripping out the person's heart. Weiss herself winced; she could actually feel the pain in the person's cries. _Seriously, what happened to this guy?_

After twenty minutes of excruciating-sounding surgery, the medics left; looking solemn, dejected, and as if they had just failed to keep the person alive.

All their feelings were understood, however, by Weiss when she actually saw the person, or what she thought was a person, anyway.

The... 'being'... lay motionless on their chest. From the way the person was built, Weiss guessed that it was a man. His back, or rather what was left of it, was seared and charred. Substantial portions of flesh were missing, and even from her own bed, Weiss could tell that he had suffered both second and third-degree burns. In fact, his back didn't even look human. There were also clear second-degree burns on his arms and legs.

She looked on in compassion and pity as she saw how wet the man's pillow was. _Most likely because of his tears, poor man. What... what happened to cause such damage?_

Weiss continued to stare on with both compassion and horror until the medics rushed in again. While one of them covered the burns in sterile gauze, the others quickly set up several painkiller IVs. Once all the dressing was done, they slowly lifted him up before rotating him and laying him his back. The medics inserted the IVs into the man before departing, leaving a stunned Weiss as she stared shell-shocked at the anguished face of Jaeger Banzai, who, even sedated, was clearly feeling the pain of his burns.

Fury flared up in a seething Weiss as she observed her friend, who looked like he was on the brink of death. She vowed to herself that when she found whoever did this to Jaeger, she would personally administer twice the pain that they had put Jaeger through.

* * *

 **AN: I hope you guys liked that chapter! Yep, Jaeger's in trouble. Things are heating up in the fight against the Organization, and he's now out of commission! How he'll handle that will be revealed next time.**

 **So Jaeger and Weiss are now hospital buddies! As you may have guessed, their time in bed-confinement will build their relationship. I'm still not saying who Jaeger ends up with, though. Things are more than meets the eye.**

 **Yeah, some intense stuff going on. Jaeger is getting closer and closer to finding the next pawn of the Organization, but for some reason, they need Quin. Who is Quin? Well, I think that's going to be revealed in the next chapter.**

 **And yes, I do think that Jaeger and Qrow would've beaten Jaeger's class if the fight had continued. Actually, Jaeger and Qrow would probably have a bigger chance if it were real combat with semblances and all.**

 **But yes, the bombing that was hinted at in the all-new first chapter has finally happened, with devastating consequences. We'll see how the bombing of Forever Fall plays into the plans of the Organization later on.**

 **And yeah, Ozpin wants to try and reform Melanie and Miltia. They'll be part of Jaeger's struggle to come to terms with his past. They'll also be influential in possible romances for Jaeger. I'm going to have a few original chapters between this one and the chapter based on The Stray, because I've always felt that that episode and the previous, Forever Fall 2, had a bit of a gap in time between them.**

 **So, the next chapters will be developing Jaeger's relationships. We'll also be following other characters around, because who wants to stay in a hospital** , **with a crabby girl with broken legs and a man who's had a third (or whatever) of his body burned, all day?!**

 **Okay, that's all for now. Don't forget to share your thoughts, what you liked and your criticisms, in a PM or review. Also, if you like this story, why not follow and favourite it as well? I will see you again, but not yet. Not yet.**


	10. Where Is Hope When Hope Dies?

**AN: Been the longest hiatus yet. I was so busy this week. Like I'm running all around the city to sort stuff out for a retreat, then someone goes into labour the night before the retreat, then the retreat actually happens. And there was like, no internet and no time to write. But yeah, its been tough to get this chapter going over the past week.**

 **And oh my days! Chapter 10 already! I know this hasn't been the greatest fic; I still think the first three chapters aren't that strong, but I am quite happy with the subsequent chapters, and I'm glad that people enjoy this fanfic, even the earlier chapters.**

 **I want to thank everyone who has read so far. This story has gotten over 2,200 views, which will seem small to most, but its massive for me. You guys are so amazing and so encouraging.**

 **Now, I want to remind you if you haven't already to please go check out the new rewritten first chapter. It adds some stuff to later chapters and it sort of adds to this one. Plus, I just feel that its better than the original.**

 **Also, I like to fan-cast, and I've found it hard to cast RWBY. And while I don't want a live-action RWBY, I think Ellen Barkin would be good as Glynda Goodwitch if there was. Just throwing it out there.**

 **And, I saw Ex Machina last week. Personal 6/10, critical 4.5/5. I also (finally) saw 500 Days of Summer. Personal 7/10, critical 4.5/5. And I think its really going to better some of the relationships this fanfic. But whatever.**

 **One more thing. In this fanfic, Forever Fall is in between Mount Glenn and the city of Vale.**

 **Happy reading!**

* * *

Roman Torchwick cowered in fear of the woman in front of him; her eyes staring daggers into him.

"Now, now, Cinder, I was simply fast-tracking our operations," he insisted in his defence, trying desperately to placate her.

"You were reckless!" she exclaimed. Her eyes were flaming, and now a blaze was starting in her palm as well.

Nowhere to be seen was the woman who would show her sinister intentions with a sultry manner, affectionate touches, and soft and often alluring voice. No, this time her feelings were right out in the open, and they were literally threatening to burn the warehouse down.

"Cinder! Stand down!" commanded a deep voice from a computer to the duo's side. The face of the speaker was shadowed, and the voice clearly put through a changer. Neither Cinder nor Roman knew the true identity of the voice. They had never met the speaker, and only knew it by the aliases of Mre. Kurtz and the Black Baron.

"Yes, Mre. Kurtz..." Cinder reluctantly responded, slowly extinguishing the flame in her hand. "But Mistree, you have to understand. Phase 2 is in jeopardy. As you know, we were gonna raze Forever Fall AFTER the tunnel from Mount Glenn to the forest was complete. That way, we would run the train through the tunnel, blowing up the ceiling as it goes along. The Grimm then bypass the problem of crossing the hills by going straight through the tunnel to a valley in Forever Fall, where they would pour straight into the city of Vale.

But because of Roman," she said with an accusatory finger pointed at the culprit, "Phase 2 is basically impossible. Forever Fall is being kept under close watch by the hunters, which means that we can't tunnel under without them knowing. Our equipment shakes the ground too much to be used covertly."

"Well excuse me for taking initiative," Roman retorted sarcastically. "I saw the chance to not only speed up our operations, but to eliminate certain 'security risks.' You see, Black Baron, yesterday morning, Kray Dynasty reported a hunter snooping around for Quin Dynasty."

Mre. Kurtz frowned at that last bit of information. Of course, Roman didn't know that, so he just continued. "This hunter told Kray that he and his buddies had Lupa Dandaem and his guards in their custody. Well, I looked further into it and found that Dandaem is currently locked up in the Triskelion, while his 'girls' were being flown to Forever Fall for some class or whatever. And I thought, 'Why wait for the girls to be hidden before eliminating them, when we could just kill them with the razing of Forever Fall?!

Also, I found out that both Jaeger Banzai and Qrow Branwen would be there. Their deaths would've been an added bonus."

"But you failed! You recklessly tried to kill them, and you still failed," said Cinder in an accusatory tone.

"It was worth the try. And what do you care about how I kill them? Its not like they're your family or anything," responded Roman, both he and the Black Baron being oblivious to Cinder's previous life. The woman in question did well to not flinch at that last comment.

"Anyway, you've disrupted Phase 2 and put both the hunters and Atlas on higher alert. Nothing good came out of the situation," growled Cinder, her eyes still stabbing arrows into Roman.

Roman raised a finger to butt in. "Not quite. I personally fired a missile at Jaeger Banzai. I'm pretty sure I killed him."

"You might have," Mre. Kurtz dead-panned. "You. Think. You. Did." The clear disappointment and undertone of anger in the voice made Roman shrink down from his confident stance.

"You don't even know if you accomplished anything?!" bellowed the Black Baron. Roman further shrivelled up, knowing that he had failed to turn the situation in his favour. "I. Am. Very disappointed. You wasted months of work. You disrupted and possibly delayed our operations by months. You banked so much on a rash and uncertain move, and you don't even know if you have anything to show for it?!"

"Cinder, I want you to organize and execute an extraction op to retrieve Dandaem within the next 72 hours. Bring him to Thinis. I'm putting you in charge of the operations in the city of Vale as well. How quickly can you formulate an alternative Phase 2?" asked Mre. Kurtz.

Cinder smirked. "In fact, I already have one. And it doesn't let the previous Phase 2 go to waste..."

"And... what else?" Roman inquired impatiently. He was already tired of Cinder's secrecy when it came to her side of the plans for the Operation.

"You'll know when you need to know," she said, returning to her usual demeanour, cupping Roman's cheek slightly as she spoke. Roman, however, knew the danger behind the seemingly docile gesture, and shrugged her off. She shot a smile that said "I'll get you later" back at him. "Just keep collecting dust for now."

"Cinder, we'll talk later about this new plan of yours later. But first, I want you to go and find out the fate of Banzai. Infiltrating Beacon should be done by yourself alone because of their high-alert status," informed Mre. Kurtz before cutting the transmission.

"Bye bye, then," Cinder said playfully to Roman before sauntering out into the crisp, cold air of the night. Once out of Roman's sight, a grim expression took over her face. _Please be alive, Jaeger. I'm not ready to lose you. Not now, not ever._

* * *

An eerie silence had settled over Beacon Academy. Word had travelled fast throughout the city of Vale of the razing of Forever Fall, and things got worse when the news about Jaeger began to circulate around the Academy, leaving students and staff alike in shell-shock. But while the news was all over Beacon, Ozpin and Glynda had done an impressive job of getting the cooperation of the teachers and the student body in making sure that the condition of Jaeger never left the Academy.

One student had taken Jaeger's blazed state harder than anyone else. The champion redhead in question was still shacked up in her room, having refused to attend class or to even go to breakfast. Ren, in the end, had brought food for her before going off to combat class, keeping in mind that he had to explain Pyrrha's absence.

Pyrrha was in terrible condition. Her usually beautiful, flowing hair was dishevelled and unkempt. Her normally warm and radiant were wide, dull, and glazed over. Her lips were parched and cracked. Instead of fresh and glowing, her face was haggard from crying and the exhaustion of the previous day's classes. On top of that, Pyrrha hadn't spoken a single word since screaming Jaeger's name when he was hit by the bomb.

The spartan was sitting upright in her bed with her back against the wall. She had pulled her legs into her chest and was hugging them tightly.

Her mind was currently replaying the horrific events of the prior day. She saw the missile throttling towards Jaeger; the moment that it struck and exploded; the awful moments of the aftermath.

She then thought back to when Team CREJ died. That night, an extraction of hunters had brought Jaeger home after a mission gone fatally awry. Only Jaeger had returned, with second and third-degree burns to show just how close he had come to joining his teammates in death.

 _I will not lose you, Jaeger. You pulled through last time... You have to survive this time... I need you. I can't lose you again._

So caught up in her thoughts was she that she failed to notice both the mild knocking on the door and the soft calling of her name.

"Pyrrha? Pyrrha?" said Jaune as he gently rapped on his team's door. He hoped, though he knew the unlikelihood, that the door would be opened promptly by his partner, greeting him as her usual warm and cheery self.

But after a minute of no response, he sighed in disappointment and let himself in. Jaune immediately noticed that his partner's food was still untouched, and his partner herself was still in her bed.

"Hey Pyrrha," he greeted optimistically, still trying to pry out her usual self. Jaune sat down next to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder as he did. He got a blank, distant glance in response.

 _I wish I could say something to help. But usually I would go to Pyrrha, Ren, or even Jaeger if I needed help with someone._

He groaned, knowing that he of course couldn't ask Pyrrha for help with Pyrrha, Jaeger was out of commission, and Ren was out on the town with Nora, who had gone out comfort-shopping or something like that.

"Um... they're letting visitors in to see Jaeger now... Blake and Yang are already there..." trailed off Jaune as he noticed that Pyrrha was staring blankly at the wall. She probably didn't even register a thing he said.

"I'm not going," Pyrrha stated suddenly. Jaune jumped slightly in surprise, both at the response itself and the dull, cracked voice that delivered it.

"Uh... come again?" he said, adamant that he had misheard her. An almost inaudible sound came from Pyrrha, but Jaune caught it. It sounded almost... _sad?_

"I am not going," reaffirmed Pyrrha, now definitely in a firmer but sadder tone. "I wouldn't be able to hold myself together if I saw him now. I fell apart in the heat of the moment with the adrenaline of fighting for survival still coursing through me. How much more will I fall apart without any hormone as a crutch?"

Jaune looked at Pyrrha with both sympathy and sadness. He knew that she was very close to Jaeger, so naturally she would crash hardest at what had happened to him.

But she was also the strongest person that Jaune knew. Not physically, 'cause that title of course went to Yang, who would knock out anyone who claimed to be superior to her. No, Pyrrha was the strongest one inside. And even though Jaune wasn't there, Ren had recounted the moments after they had all entered the cave, when Pyrrha was slowly shattered. How she had fallen apart and regressed as Qrow and then Beacon's medical team struggled not just to treat Jaeger's burns, but simply to keep him alive. It was like she was as close to death as she was.

The champion had been totally wrecked by a sole, small missile that hadn't even hit her or killed anyone... yet.

* * *

Yang watched helplessly from Jaeger's side as Blake traipsed over to the other side of the bed and took the huntsman's hand in hers, eyeing it guiltily as she did. _He's like this because he tried to save me. He's dying because he tried to save me. I came to Beacon to save people, but one of my first and few friends is now dying because of me instead._

As Blake's rueful thoughts flowed through her mind, her partner was thinking over her relationship with Jaeger. She didn't know him as well as her teammates. She was the only member of Team RWBY that wasn't selected for Jaeger's class, so she naturally was less able to spend more time with him.

But he had earned her respect by giving her a straight explanation for why she wasn't chosen. And they were still quite good friends. They would have conversations, both deep and meaningless, while sparring, as well as while not. They would hang out and go out as a duo, as well as with the rest of their group. When Yang wasn't apparently hanging out with her 'other' friends, that is. Friends that neither Jaeger, nor Weiss, nor even Blake or Ruby had ever met.

And behind her flirtations, she did care about Jaeger, and she knew he cared a lot about her, about all of them. He was a friend who was there for you when you needed him... well, except for now.

She didn't know where he got it, but Jaeger seemed able to see right through a person. He always seemed to bypass her joking, flirtatious facade and see when something was troubling her. Humour was her defence mechanism, and it was like Jaeger could sense when it was active.

Like when Weiss had berated Yang after one too many pranks on the heiress. The fencer had insulted and infuriated Yang and her intelligence before storming off, leaving Yang with her hair literally on fire.

The problem was that Yang knew that some things that Weiss had said were true, and that was what made her furious the most. So she went off and forced Jaeger to spar with her. The older man complied, knowing that he could help Yang not only blow off steam but help her with whatever had maddened her.

While Yang was throwing sloppy but powerful punches, Jaeger was deflecting and talking her down. He allowed her to release her anger physically while getting her to admit her frustration verbally.

Eventually she had collapsed into his arms, an exhausted mess. That's when Jaeger had sat down with Yang still in his arms and talked to her about Weiss' comments. He shot down the ones that were simply a product of anger, and highlighted those that were Weiss' true feelings brought out by anger. Jaeger helped Yang to see that while Weiss could sometimes be over-reactive, she did point out things that Yang should take to heart. Now, while Yang still constantly teased and cracked jokes at the expense of the heiress, she was also proud to say that she hadn't pulled a prank that went too far since that day.

And Yang had also of course improved by sparring with the trained huntsman. He had experience with brawlers like her, and used that to train her strong points as well as lessen her weak points. Yang had learned from Jaeger that just unleashing her emotions in her punches would put her at a disadvantage. He taught her to control her emotions and channel them into packing a bigger strike. She had also grown more accurate and more tactical with her blows because she was learning to rein in, control, and focus her thoughts and feelings.

That training was coming in handy, because she really felt like punching the heart of whoever had done this to Jaeger straight out of them.

* * *

Blake was also struggling to not rip apart the whole room. She inwardly smiled as she thanked the fact that weapons like Gambol Shroud weren't allowed in the med centre, because even being the level-headed one in Team RWBY, she could still cause quite significant destruction if her emotions got the better of her.

She was taking things almost as hard as Pyrrha. After all, Blake had been right there. She was literally right in the epicentre of the action when the bomb hit. Not only had she gone through the terror of the razing of Forever Fall, but she felt responsible for the fact that a friend of hers was dying because he had tried to save her.

She had survived with minor scorch marks and exhausted muscles. But inside, she felt her heart being hit by the missile, over and over and over again. Her mind kept replaying the moments after the bomb had exploded. Blake recounted mentally the juncture when Qrow was carrying Jaeger's partially incinerated form into the cave.

Blake recalled the intense look of horror and anguish on Jaeger's face. He refused to take his eyes off of her. She hoped that she had at least brought him a bit of comfort before he had succumbed to the darkness...

 _Is he thinking about me right now? Or is he just swamped by pain? I wonder if his anguish numbs his hearing?_

She slowly moved closer to his face, brushing away a few stray hairs on his face as she did.

"Hey, um, Jaeger... I don't know if you can here me... but I'm here with Yang... we're... we're here for you..." she trailed off as torrents of tears began flowing out of her onto Jaeger's face. _Why am I crying this much? Sure, I get tempests of emotions inside all the time, but since when do floods of tears come out as well?_

She cried profusely for several minutes before she felt a cold and shaking hand reluctantly fall onto her shoulder. Blake glanced up through tear-flooded eyes to see Ruby also crying uncontrollably, not even caring that her tears were falling onto Jaeger's blanket.

"H...how... is h-he?" the younger girl asked in the midst of her crying.

Blake stared back at Jaeger's face, still anguished even in his sleep. Sweat was all over his body and every now and then a shiver would travel through his spine.

The still-incognito faunus steeled herself up before responding. "He... um... he's got second-degree burns on his legs, first-degree on his arms, and second and third-degree all over his back. They tried their best to seal his wounds so that as little blood would escape as possible, but they still have to change his wraps every hour because they keep getting contaminated with blood and other body fluids. They also have a blood transfusion machine ready just in case he looses too much blood.

Other than that, the sheer force of the blast damaged his back. They don't know to what extent because of the sensitive parts of destroyed tissue. They don't actually know the extent of the damage done because Jaeger isn't in a condition to be properly checked over."

Ruby nodded faintly as she struggled to take everything in. Then, a sudden dreadful and melancholy realization dawned upon her. Her face also became dark and melancholy; her mind unable to accept her realization. "He's... Jaeger's dying... isn't he?"

* * *

 **AN: So did you like, or maybe not like, but think that that was a good chapter. First of all, what did ya think about the little show of Roman, Cinder, and the "Black Baron" at the beginning? What did you think of the original plan. Did you like the way that the "Phase 2" that we know from the end of Volume 2 came to being? And what will happen when Cinder's team tries to extract Lupa Dandaem? What will happen when Cinder does recon on Jaeger's fate?**

 **Now, this chapter may have seemed more morbid, sadder, and darker than usual. Its because I recently lost someone who was very significant in my childhood and even after, and the funeral was on Tuesday, which is when I started writing this. While I was planning this for some time before, I actually started writing this fanfic the day after the person died. Maybe that's why I couldn't get the first few chapters right. Or maybe its the fact that I was finishing Smallville and watching it while writing.**

 **But I had a good time at the retreat and I'm on the mend. Feeling really good and really pumped because we're finally getting to some stuff that I am ridiculously stoked for in the next few chapters.**

 **I decided to cut this one short because I want to write this in two parts. This actually went through more drafts than any other chapter, four to be exact. And most of the earlier sections went through at least five drafts. I just really want to get everyone right because that's crucial in this situation.**

 **But by tomorrow, I promise that the second half of this part will be up. If it isn't you have permission to maul me.**

 **Also, I'm still on the lookout for a beta-reader, so if anyone's interested, the spot's still open. I'd really appreciate the help.**

 **So let me know what you thought of this short but emotional and darker chapter. Do you think Jaeger will die? I won't promise that major characters, even the title characters, will survive. I may or may not take some cues from Akame ga Kill in that regard. If you had read some of my other work (i.e. movie scripts for the near future that I haven't shown anyone because they are very confidential) you would know that I am not afraid to kill off, and will kill off, almost anyone. No one is safe. So share your thoughts in a PM or review. Follow and favourite.**

 **This is not the end... (Edge of Tomorrow reference)**


	11. The Fire Rises

**AN: Hey guys! So sorry this didn't come out on Tuesday. Got caught up in personal affairs. Also got a lot of insect bites which make it hard to think or do anything 'cause they drive me crazy.**

 **But anyway. Over 20 followers! A little thing for most, a landmark for me. The past few days have been the most successful yet for this fanfic, and we passed 2,500 views! Again, most people would be disappointed with that, but I'm ecstatic.**

 **Once again, I just want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, reviewed, and simply read so far. You guys really make this worthwhile.**

 **Now, onto part 2! The longest chapter yet! Remember that this is still the day after the razing of Forever Fall. Also, the first part and certain other sections of this chapter take place in Jaeger's mind and are results of his coma and pain.**

 **Happy reading!**

* * *

Jaeger groaned as he rose from his bed. The young huntsman winced as his chest began paining. He had sustained several gashes in his torso after a mission with Raven the night prior. He was shirtless, stripped down to just his boxers, and had dressings wrapped around his wounds.

He no recollection of what had happened after he got away, but the huntsman guessed that his partner had helped him home and that his wife had cleaned him up and bandaged him.

Speaking of his wife, her side of the bed was empty. She was probably making breakfast.

Jaeger clutched his side to help stem his discomfort as he flung the sheets off of him and slowly stood up. A small growl escaped from his lips as he twisted his abdomen too much.

Making sure to limit his rotations and movements, he carefully made his way out of his room and into the living room.

It was a regular-sized square room with plain teal walls, a white ceiling, and crimson polypropylene carpeting. A TV sat on a regular wooden stand at the north wall, which had two sliding windows on either side.

An azure, four-seat, mid-century modern sofa-bed sat around six feet in front of the TV. The sofa-bed itself was currently stretched out and occupied by a slumbering Pyrrha.

He walked past his dozing friend and entered the kitchen, which was furnished simply by an l-peninsula and an island in the middle of the room. The scent of bacon and fried eggs wafted to him.

Jaeger looked in the direction of the pleasant aura, finding his wife, still in her scarlet yukata, which was adorned with several golden twisting patterns.

"Hey, Chane," he greeted his wife warmly as he planted a kiss on her head. She turned from frying eggs for a moment to give him a quick peck on his cheek.

"I'm taking over," Jaeger said as he reached for the pan-handle. Chane quickly swatted his hand away, however.

"No," she said sternly. "You, Mr. Banzai, are wounded and shouldn't be near boiling oil. Or be doing any work." Despite her strict tone, a smile still plastered itself on Chane's face as she turned back to her cooking. She always liked how Jaeger was a man who would help out around the house. He actually did most of the housework usually.

Jaeger came up behind Chane and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Cinder, I'm not an invalid. Besides, I need something to do around here. You know I can't lie in bed all day. Go wake up Pyrrha or something. I'm taking over."

Knowing that her husband wouldn't relent, Chane gave up, kissing him before going off to wake up her red-headed friend.

After he finished cooking the last batch of bacon, Jaeger decided to go ahead and lay out the table.

"Morning, Daddy!" a high-pitched voice piped up. Jaeger grinned as her turned around, seeing his four-year-old daughter being held by Pyrrha. The spartan herself had bags under her eyes, but was also smiling, glad to see that her best friend was up and running.

"Hey, Syal!" he greeted as the girl rushed into the arms of her father after her mother put her onto the floor.

His daughter was of average height, and had long, flowing, straightened, lime hair that reached down to her knees. Syal had inherited her father's green eyes, and was wearing a miniature version of her mother's yukata.

Jaeger carefully picked up the girl. He sat her on his hip, making sure to tell her not to touch daddy's chest or back too hard.

"What happened to you this time, Daddy?" Syal asked inquisitively. She was fascinated by her parents' occupation, and would always ask about Jaeger's wounds, since he usually didn't get anything serious.

"Daddy and Auntie Raven blew up a cliff and jumped into the ocean," he responded, never having shared the actual details of his missions with his daughters. Team CREJ was a covert ops team, and not even Syal could know. Pyrrha only knew of their activities because her own team, JNPR, had followed in the footsteps of CREJ.

Syal nodded, content with her dad's answer. The family sat down and began to dig into their food, Chane praising Jaeger for a good job with the cooking.

Jaeger just sat there and smiled as he watched his family. _This is the life I have always wanted, and I'd never have it any other way._

* * *

At the same time, in the physical world...

No one noticed as Jaeger's heart beat sped up quite a bit. The nurses were too caught up being quick and precise as they detached all the wires and machines that Weiss was hooked up to. They then promptly wheeled the scion into Beacon's medical centre's x-ray room. It was a small, square chamber with only a few computers to one side and a large, arch-shaped machine in the middle.

It hovered about an inch off the floor, was around six inches in width, and its span allowed the bed to be slid underneath with a few inches of space on either side left. In was plated in metal except for the interior side of the arch, which was lined by transparent lights.

After Weiss' bed was rolled underneath the machine, the doctor tapped a few buttons on its side, making the lights glow a brilliant cyan. Weiss was given protective glasses to filter the strong rays.

The doctor then began relaying to her basic rules and protocols, all that she had heard when they had taken x-rays when she had first broken her legs. But Weiss' mind was distant, nowhere near her own progress. All her thoughts were of Jaeger.

She had awoken that morning to hear Blake telling Ruby the news that Jaeger was actually dying. Weiss couldn't get her head around it. She couldn't accept or even believe the fact that Jaeger was losing his fight to survive.

The fencer had argued with a nurse for quite a while, refusing to believe that nothing more could be done at the time. The nurse had told her that the damage to the tissue and nerves was so extensive and serious that they couldn't operate on him further. His internal organs had also taken a lot of damage, and were the main reason for his possible perishing. Their operations to try and clean and seal his wounds had been dangerous enough; they didn't want to risk his life any more.

Still adamant that something could be done, she had called up her dad in desperation. Surely he had some access to technology to help. But once again, her dad gave her sad news. Even if they were to graft tissue or skin, it would have to be when he was healed further. One wrong tap of a scalpel could prove fatal with all the exposed nerves and vessels.

Weiss had then taken to just lying in her bed. Deep down, she knew that everyone was right. No matter how strong Jaeger's will to fight was, his body just wasn't in the condition to survive much longer. She didn't know all the medical details, but Weiss had observed Jaeger enough to know that his body was struggling to even breathe. The damage coupled with the pain that it brought was slowly crushing the life out of the young huntsman.

She had continued that train of thought until the nurses had come for her to wheel her into the x-ray room.

Now that the x-rays were done, the doctor had gone of to print and 'study' them, leaving Weiss to wait impatiently. The pain in her legs was slowly rising due to there being no drugs to keep it under control. _Ugh, I'll never take painkillers for granted. Ever._

Her mental cries for help were answered after a few more minutes, as the doctor came in with a blank expression on his face. He put the x-ray scans onto a lit-up board on the wall and gave Weiss a rundown of her progress. The small bone fragments in between the main breaks had almost completely fused together, but the primary fractures themselves were still far from healed. It would be three-to-four months before they were healed, all depending on how much her aura did to help, of course.

The doctor then went off to file reports about the x-rays and the nurses transferred Weiss back to her spot next to Jaeger. She sighed in relief as she was hooked back to her pain-relief machine. Her reprieve was abruptly ended, however, by a nurse walking past Jaeger's bed.

"Doctor!" he hollerred loudly, the called man rushing in quickly to see what was going on. His eyes widened when he noticed how much Jaeger's heart rate had spiked. The doctor checked that all the equipment was hooked up properly before injecting a beta-blocker into Jaeger, relieving fears for the moment.

Content that her friend was okay for the time being, Weiss thought back to when she had first met Jaeger. At first, he was just a stepping stone to her, like how she first viewed Pyrrha.

But then he had helped Weiss and Ruby to settle their quarrel over the leadership of Team RWBY. He had helped Weiss to learn to follow and Ruby to take the lead. And the rest is history.

Then he had taken up sparring with Yang, which also opened up a door for friendship with the buxom blonde. After that came the mysterious development of a rapport between Jaeger and Blake. Still, no one had been able to discover how it happened. Blake's teammates were suspicious at first, but left it alone when they realized how good the duo were together.

Now, Jaeger was Team RWBY's best friend and mentor.

Weiss never would have imagined that one of her best friends, in her freshman year at Beacon nonetheless, would not only be a huntsman, but her teacher as well. And a man close to her age at that. And not only did she care about him, but she—maybe—felt something beyond friendship for him.

Every morning, Jaeger would come down to visit her in the medical bay, before anyone else had a chance to show up. He would keep her company until he had to go to class. He would even do her make-up over her scar.

Jaeger had been forced to gain basic experience with cosmetics thanks to his partner Raven—although he would never admit it publicly. Even though Weiss had at first insisted that she could handle it herself, Jaeger had protested that it was the least he could do for her in her current condition.

But because of the 'incident' the day before, she had taken up the responsibility herself. Even though she knew that Beacon's medical staff were tight-lipped and trustworthy with patient confidentiality—at least that was what Ozpin had reassured her—the heiress still wasn't keen on sharing her scar and its secret with anyone else.

A sudden realization hit Weiss while she was thinking about her scar. Jaeger was the only person she trusted with its secret. She guessed that her teammates had at least noticed signs of her disfigurement, but Weiss was sure that only Jaeger knew how it had come to being.

 _I only trust Jaeger with my secret... Why is that? Why do I trust him with my secret above even my own teammates?_

* * *

"Melanie, Miltiades, please take a seat," greeted Ozpin warmly as Miltia warily shuffled into his office. Her sister, ever the more headstrong one, strode confidently up to the headmaster's desk.

"Thank you for coming," he said, getting curt nods in return. "Now, I'm going to be blunt. I believe that whoever decimated Forever Fall yesterday was targeting you two. The twins' eyebrows rose slightly, not sure what he knew or didn't know.

"We know that your former employer, Lupa Dandaem, is part of an organization," he informed them, much to their surprise. They both looked at each other, having a collective thought. _If he knows about them, why tell us? We work FOR them! Sharing what you know isn't exactly good for you._

"Now, you are probably wondering why I am telling you about this," Ozpin said, triggering internal chuckles in the twins. "I'm discussing your prior employer's organization because..."

Ozpin trailed off, still wondering if what he was doing was the right path to take. He took a deep breath and sighed as he reaffirmed his decision.

"... I want to trust you two. I want you to help us bring the Organization down."

Melanie's eyebrows shot up even further; a small smirk developing on her face that said 'Well this just got interesting.' Miltia simply narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Ozpin.

They were already wary when they had been told that they would be joining a special school class for a day instead of being transferred to the Triskelion, and now that she knew the reason why, Miltia was even more suspicious and untrusting of the hunters.

"How is the huntsman who was burned yesterday?" asked Melanie out of nowhere, catching both Ozpin and Miltia off guard.

Ozpin took a moment to pass his surprise at her question, and the girl caught onto it quickly. "I'm not made of stone, you know. I'm a mercenary, but I'm still a person. Besides, he was the only person who came to visit me while I was at the hospital here. He seemed like a nice person, you know. There was genuine care in him. Especially for that white-haired girl."

The principal took a sip of coffee while choosing his next move carefully. _Should I tell them who Jaeger is? How they are connected to him? What if they somehow find a way to communicate with the Organization? Am I even right in trying to gain their allegiance?_

His mind wandered off; the twins staring at him for a response. After a minute of the headmaster gazing into his mug, Melanie decided to grab his attention.

"Hey," she barked as she clicked her fingers loudly in Ozpin's face. His head shook slightly as he returned from his mental plane to the physical. His eyes shifted between Melanie and Miltia; his gaze inquisitive and calculating, making the twins uneasy.

"We don't know if he will survive. He is in a coma and is heavily wounded." Ozpin then let out a deep, heavy breath. "He may only have a few days left. His coma is getting worse as we speak."

Miltia lowered her head slightly. Even though she had never talked to the man, he had been very kind to her sister. Well, except for the whole beating them up thing.

Melanie closed her eyes for a moment as she released a heavy, sad breath. The huntsman may have been the one to put her into the hospital, but he had been so kind and remorseful after that she couldn't help but feel some sort of affection for him. Besides her own sister and the white-haired girl, he was the closest thing she had to a friend at the Academy, where they were being kept for the foreseeable future.

Ozpin cleared his throat, bringing the twins' attentions back to him. "There... there is something else you should know. His name is Jaeger Banzai. Four years ago, you two were working for a syndicate that were using several stolen Atlesian Knights and Spiders in their operations. They were replicating them in a factory."

The twins looked at each other again. They both had looks of recognition on their faces. _That was our first job. But what does that have to do with Jaeger?_

"That syndicate was shut down by Jaeger's team, accompanied by a more experienced huntsman."

Melanie gasped in realization. Though neither she nor her sister had any concrete recollection of the events of the night that Team CREJ had attacked the syndicate, both twins were still shocked by the revelation of their history with Jaeger.

Melanie's mind went racing. _So that's why he acted like he recognized us in the alleyway. But why was he so angry? And who was that person that he mentioned?_

"That night, his teammate was killed by your boss at the time. That is why he was so furious when he fought you in the alley."

Melanie chuckled inside herself. _Seriously, this guy can read my mind._

Her sister, however, had a more serious demeanour. She was deep in thought.

Twice had Melanie and Miltia tried to kill Jaeger, and while he had fought back and even tried to kill them as well, he had shown kindness and acceptance since then. Not only had he accepted them into his class despite their hostile past, but he had helped to care for Melanie after he had hurt her. Jaeger had even tried to save their lives the day before. Him and his knowledge of Forever Fall was why they were still alive.

"What can we do to help?" asked Miltia. Ozpin raised an eyebrow at her question before a small smile of triumph crept onto his face.

* * *

Back in Jaeger's dream...

Jaeger and Chane were cuddled up on one side of the sofa as Pyrrha and Syal sat on the other. The redhead was explaining to Syal a documentary on Beacon Academy.

"The place still looks exactly the same as when we graduated," Chane remarked to her husband.

Jaeger grunted in response. "Been five years since then."

Both their minds flew back seven years to when they had first met. Jaeger was in his second year, and was on a mission with his team. It was the first assignment of the year. On that mission, their leader was killed, but they had found Chane as well.

Jaeger had protested that Chane had enough skill and potential to join them in their second year, despite having known her for only a couple of hours. That was what first drew Chane to him.

And Jaeger, who was promoted to leader of the team, had been proven right, because just two years later, Team CREJ graduated with flying colours, including Chane. By then, Jaeger and Chane had been a couple for some time, and they got married soon after graduation.

The couple were rocked out of their reminiscing by a strong tremor that shook through the ground. Jaeger let go of his wife and got up to peer through the window to see what in the dust was going on.

His eyes swelled, his heart went racing, and a terrified gasp escaped his lips as he watched the city of Vale being bombed. Several taller buildings were already collapsing or destroyed, and the rain of bombs, as well as the fires that they spawned, were headed towards the house.

Jaeger turned around and grabbed Syal, taking her to their neighbours. They themselves were also preparing to evacuate, and gladly took Syal along with them, knowing Chane and Jaeger's profession. Being on the outer ring of the city, the huntsman gave them instructions to run towards the mountains, pointing them to a cave.

Jaeger sprinted back into his house and bolted upstairs to his armoury, where Chane and Pyrrha were already. The trio grabbed their gear before setting out to help out whoever they could, as well as hopefully get to the bottom of whatever was going on.

* * *

"Doctor! Nurse! Somebody!" yelled Weiss as she noticed a steep rise in Jaeger's heart rate. Two nurses rushed in and came to check up on the hunter. From the looks on their faces and what they were doing, Weiss guessed that Jaeger's body was giving out, struggling to keep itself going with so much pain and damage.

* * *

Jaeger, Chane, and Pyrrha rushed out of the house and towards the burning centre of the city. They flew from rooftop to rooftop, making sure to avoid collapsing or collapsed parts of the house.

As they neared the epicentre of Vale, Pyrrha spotted a bullhead hovering a few dozen feet in the sky above. After informing her friends of her find, they spotted another bullhead, and another. Each one was dropping bombs onto the city.

"We need to get to one of those bullheads!" yelled Jaeger over the screeching of falling bombs, raging fires, and buildings caving in.

After a minute of swooping from rooftop to rooftop to dodge falling explosives, a light-bulb went off in Jaeger's head. "I've got an idea. I can't fly all of us up there on a disc. Too much weight for me to handle. And we can't simply bring it down 'cause of the civilians still in the vicinity. Now I don't know if this is a great plan or not, but I can't think of anything right now. Pyr, hold out Miló."

The redhead promptly complied. Jaeger then took off his belt and threw it in the air. With a wave of his hand, the dust crystals inside flew out, smashing into the ground below, creating a large pile of dust particles.

Jaeger then flicked his hand into the air in front of his face, causing the dust to glide near to Pyrrha. He then clenched his fist and moved it from left to right, which moved the dust to form a long cord.

Catching Jaeger's drift, Pyrrha raised Miló, taking a deep breath before firing the spear at the bullhead's side. After a moment of whistling through the air, it struck home, causing Pyrrha to let out a small, victorious 'Yes!' at her success. She got a thumbs up from Jaeger in congratulations.

The huntsman then motioned to Pyrrha and Cinder to take hold of the rope. He flinched slightly when his wife jumped up to the cord, and he had to hold his head to help steady himself when Pyrrha joined Chane.

He then slowly lifted up his hand in front of him. At the same time, the cord began to rise, lifting Pyrrha and Chane to the bullhead. The rope began to get thicker as it got shorter.

Then all of a sudden, the bay door of the bullhead opened. A shadowed figure, decked out in an all-black jumpsuit with a black hood that obscured the face, lifted his arm and sliced straight through the cord.

* * *

"The beta-blockers aren't working!" a nurse yelled out as she rushed back into the medical cabinet room. Jaeger's blood rate had just risen even further. At that rate, his heart would give out within a few minutes. It didn't help that his blood pressure was also at dangerous levels.

* * *

The two huntresses fell slightly, but Jaeger was quick to react and an invisible hand caught the end of the rope. With the duo literally hanging by a thick thread in mid-air, the bullhead decided to leave.

Jaeger gritted his teeth, annoyed at the failed attack. But the scowl twisted into a sadistic grin when a violet glyph appeared below the bullhead, fastening it in its place. _About time you showed up, Glynda._

With his wife and friend still hanging onto the cord, he moved them back over to the bullhead, lifting them up until they could reach the door. Chane swooped straight in while Pyrrha grabbed Miló from its place in the bay door.

Jaeger then summoned the dust cloud back to him, forming a disc that levitated him up to the aircraft. By the time he arrived, Chane had taken out the pilot. The shadowy figure was fighting both Chane and Pyrrha; the bullhead being kept up by Glynda's glyph.

Jaeger pushed the dust pile into a corner before joining the fight against the hooded figure, who, by the armour, was definitely a man. He was proving to be extremely skilled with a broadsword and shield, and it was difficult for the three hunters to coordinate their attacks in such a confined space. Additionally, he was deliberately blocking the way to the cockpit. Jaeger growled at that. _Is this guy suicidal? Does he want us to die?_

No one was able to land a major strike on anyone else until the hood managed to slam the hilt of his sword into Chane's forehead, temporarily disorientating her. He pounced on the opportunity, knocking her out the door.

Jaeger abandoned the fight for a moment to catch his wife's hand. He gritted his teeth as he fought to keep his footing. The bullhead then shook for a moment. _Guessing Glynda had to dodge a bomb._

The aircraft didn't stabilize, however. Instead, it began plummeting to the ground. Jaeger wrenched Chane back in and used his dust to create two claws, which he used to try and slow their descent.

It worked slightly, as their velocity decreased, but they were still falling alarmingly close to the ground. It wasn't safe to jump out, and it wasn't safe to stay in because of the hooded figure, who the trio had gone back to fighting.

They fought until the bullhead was just a dozen feet above ground. In desperation, Chane grabbed Jaeger and threw him towards the door. Unbalanced and caught off guard, he stumbled and fell out. Chane then tried to do the same to Pyrrha, but she stood her ground. _I'm not dying today, Chane. We're going to take this guy down, and then we're gonna go home and have dinner with Jaeger and Syal. We are not losing today._

* * *

"NO!" Jaeger shouted angrily, stunning the nurses, doctor, and Weiss alike. No one else was in the room because they had barred any visitors when Jaeger had gone into critical condition.

The huntsman was still in a coma, but he was speaking. That wasn't anything to take joy in, however, because his heart rate had plummeted severely, becoming almost non-existent.

Weiss began to cry out loud as Jaeger flat-lined and the doctor brought out the defibrillator. Her crying got worse as the first shock was applied, with no result. Second time, still nothing.

Weiss growled as she tried to steel herself. You _are not dying today, Jaeger! You can't die!_

* * *

"NO!" Jaeger screamed as he fell out of the bullhead. He crashed into the wreckage of a wall, disorientating him for a minute. But even his blurred vision couldn't obscure, nor could his pain contain his emotions, as he saw a vast explosion go off near where the bullhead was falling to.

The explosion expanded, advancing towards him. But he was unable to move. His heart had stopped and his breathing had hitched; his body too shocked to function.

* * *

"Clear!" the doctor shouted as he applied a fourth shock to Jaeger. The medical team waited and watched his heart monitor, to no avail. Some of the nurses grabbed their heads in despair while others stood still, only letting out a whimper and a few tears. The doctor stood motionless, the defibrillator still in his hand. _We failed. I failed to save him._

Weiss, however, refused to believe that the medical staff had failed, that Jaeger had died. Even though his body had gone limp for the first time since he had been brought in, Weiss couldn't accept that he had died.

"He is not dead," growled Weiss through torrents of tears and sobs. "YOU ARE NOT DEAD, JAEGER!"

She continued to shout in denial, the staff not bothering to quiet her. They knew that she was a good friend of Jaeger. Besides, they were still trying to comprehend that they had failed. No one had ever died at Beacon Academy's medical centre, until that day.

* * *

 _I'm dead. I might as well be. Pyrrha is dead. Chane is dead._

Jaeger was slumped against the slab of broken wall. His body had been scorched by the explosion, but he didn't feel any pain from them. His emotional pain had numbed it. His heart felt like it was being crushed between two boulders.

He lay there, motionless, for a full minute, wallowing in his sorrow. He was glancing around at the fumes, the orange sky. There was nothing left for him to live for.

But then a ray of light broke through the smoke, shining onto the mountains a mile away. His eyes widened suddenly as he realized something. _Syal. Syal. She has to still be alive._

He gritted his teeth as he tried to prop himself up. His body was refusing to move, but he didn't give up. He couldn't give in. _Syal. I have to live for Syal._

* * *

Beep.

Weiss gasped as she heard the unmistakable sound of Jaeger's heart monitor.

Beep.

The doctor slowly lifted his head as he turned to look at the heart monitor.

Beep.

A collective thought ran through the room. _He's alive. He's still fighting. Jaeger is still alive._

* * *

Slowly, Jaeger's arm rose. Then his other arm. Then his head. Gradually, bit by bit, Jaeger fought and successfully regained control of his body. Begrudgingly, he fought through the pain, eventually standing up. Ignoring his anguish, he gingerly made his way to the wreckage of the bullhead.

Once there, he rifled through the wreck. He let out an anguished cry as he flung off a plate of metal, finding Chane and Pyrrha next to each other. They burns all over them, but that didn't stop Jaeger from stooping and hugging both of their bodies. He checked them quickly, confirming his fears that both of them were dead.

Jaeger cried and howled in torment as he clutched his wife and best friend close to him.

"I love you Chane. I love you Pyrrha. And I wish I would never have to live in a world without you two, but I must. For Syal. She needs me, Cinder. She needs me to be a father and a mother to her. She needs us.

You'll always be in our hearts, both of you. And I wish I could just stay here and let out my anguish. But you know that we came here to do a job. And I need to complete it. Syal needs me. Vale needs me. We will not lose. I promise you. And I will always love you, Pyrrha. I will always..."

* * *

"...always, love you, Cinder," Jaeger said, causing Weiss to smile profusely. _He's alive. He's alive!_

But then his breath began to pick up pace. His heart rate rapidly rose. Then small, breathy growls came out with his gasps.

The doctor became alarmed as Jaeger's heart beat rose above normal. He was startled even more as an angry growl started in Jaeger's throat, quiet at first but gradually getting louder and more furious.

"AAHHH!" Jaeger growled furiously as he suddenly bolted up. The staff and Weiss alike were too scared to be happy that it looked like he was coming out of his coma.

The growl continued in ferocity. Jaeger's breath heart rate had stopped rising, but it was still very high.

"CINDER!" screamed Jaeger abruptly as his eyes tore open, stunning everyone in the room by how savage Jaeger both looked and sounded.

He glanced around the room wildly, slowly calming down as he realized where he was. _It was a dream. No, it was a twisted, heightened amalgamation of memories I thought were long buried._

Jaeger continued to turn his head, the adrenaline of the moment temporarily numbing most of his pain.

Then he spotted Weiss. Without warning or thought, he sprang out of bed, tearing out all the wires and IVs that were stuck in him in the process, and rushed over to his friend. Weiss was crying in ecstasy, both her heart and breath racing as Jaeger pulled her into a strong, intimate embrace.

She didn't care that her legs were screaming in pain at the sudden movements. She was in the arms of a living Jaeger, and in hers, and that was all that she wished for at that moment.

Jaeger cried into Weiss' neck as she cried into his. He didn't even care about what had happened and why everyone looked so morbid when he awoke. He was with someone he cared about a lot. He was still able to finish what his team had started. He could still live for Cinder. He was alive.

* * *

 **AN: Wow, this was a tough chapter to write. I don't know if its the greatest, but I hope that I did everything justice, and that you guys liked it.**

 **Now, yeah, I projected my own characterizations on Melanie and Miltia because they don't really have any yet. I took some things from Selina and Liese Sherlock in Trinity Seven, the only anime I love more than RWBY. They're also twins, and I projected some of their characterizations onto Mel and Mil.**

 **And that bit where Jaeger makes a dust rope to help get up to the bullhead is not actually inspired by the all-female X-Men comic. I just noticed the connection after writing it.**

 **Also, if you guys are Justice League (or DC in general) fans, then please check out my new fanfic, DC Reviews Fanfiction, where the DC universe shares their thoughts, likes, problems, and rants about our fanfiction about them.**

 **Anyway, things are building, and Jaeger's dream is very significant, because its more memory than fantasy. You'll know what I mean soon enough.**

 **So what did you think of the moving between reality and Jaeger's mind? How do you feel about Melanie and Miltia possibly joining the fight against the Organization? What do you want to happen next?** **Put your feelings and theories in a PM or review and send 'em my way.**

 **Also, I'm still on the lookout for a beta-reader, so if you're available, please PM me.**

 **Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.**


	12. We Rise from the Ashes

**Yeah, we're back! And it's the first monthiversary of this fanfic! Now, I know that its been some time since the last update. I apologize for that. I've got stuff to do in preparation for the start of my first year of college. I was also helping out another Fanfiction writer with his fanfic. Check it out: Shayera Hol of the Multiverse by Historyman 14. It's a Justice League fanfic about Hawkgirl in different universes. In one, she even becomes Batman (or rather, Batwoman, but not the Katherine Kane Batwoman)!**

 **Also, I've been trying to finish some anime this week. I watch Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, which is a fantastic musical and drama anime. It also has one of the best romances I've ever seen. And I'm proud to say that it is also my favourite anime of all time now! Personal 10/10, critical 9/10.**

 **I also got around to seeing Hyouka. I gave it both a personal critical 8/10. Next up for me, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun.**

 **Also, I have worked hard on getting this chapter right. There were times when I would write a draft, then write a subsequent draft that was completely different. I was really unsure of how to fit things in and if things should be in this chapter or future ones, but I'm happy with what eventually came out.**

 **This chapter might also be negatively affected by the fact that I saw Fant4stic a couple of days ago. Man, was I put into a bad place by that awfulness. I really feel sorry for those who got their hopes up for that (I can't even call it a film).**

 **Also, I've finally got two beta-readers! The3o0 and SunaT.U, take a bow! These guys have been awesome so far with helping me. I'd like to thank them for taking up my offer and all they've done so far, and I know that this fanfic will become better because of them!**

 **Anyway, on to the chapter!**

 **Happy reading! (I think that's the most exclamation marks I've ever used in one go in my life.)**

* * *

"I'm fine. Seriously," Jaeger affirmed politely with a weak smile.

It was the morning after Jaeger had woken up from his coma. Team RWBY, except for Weiss, of course, were his first visitors since the coma. Of course, Jaeger had still arisen early, falling back into the routine of covering up Weiss's scar for her.

Ruby had gone ballistic when they first came in. She had been so worried when he was in his coma, and fussed frantically over Jaeger for a full five minutes before calming down.

Even Yang was showing her worry, though to a lesser degree. Asking if the slant of his bed was comfortable, if he needed more pillows, if he was hungry, that sort of thing.

Blake was hiding behind a pamphlet that she had read through six times since arriving. _I clearly underestimated how long we'd be here._

Glancing up for just a moment, she caught a glimpse of a knowing smirk being sent her way from Jaeger. _Dust, is my concern really THAT evident?_

"Hey, Blake, I know you're just dying to splash out your love and care on me. No one's gonna judge you if you do," quipped Jaeger, trying to spark a conversation with the raven-haired beauty.

She glared at him darkly. _I swear, if you weren't this close to death already, I would feel very tempted to shred you into pieces with Gambol Shroud. Of course, the receptionist does take all weapons before entering the infirmary, so there's that..._

Blake instead returned a glare that obviously read 'I'll let you off this time, bub. But beware...'.

A lull in the conversation settled after that. Jaeger was out of ideas for things to talk about, and Team RWBY was tentative of what was said to the huntsman. Despite his more humorous and upbeat conversation, his voice was hoarse and weak. He would occasionally wince when his pain got too much for even the heavy painkillers that he was on to dampen.

And even though he wasn't by any means a frail soul, they were also aware, through Weiss' scroll messages, that Jaeger had been extremely shaken since waking up, using humour to mask it. And all four of them were adamant that it wasn't the bombing that had rattled him to the core. They just felt that it was something more personal, something deeper.

Weiss had even said that she had never seen anyone so physically battered and jolted so heavily on the inside as well.

"Jaeger, who is Cinder?" Weiss blurted out abruptly. Her friends were taken aback by her sudden change in tone, which was much closer to the Weiss that they knew. She had been in greater pain than usual that morning, and had been very quiet because of that.

"Why do you assume that Cinder is a person?" Jaeger queried with curiosity.

"Well," began Weiss, trying to think of why she made that assumption. "Its just... the way you yelled it when you woke up. It wasn't a simple word. It sounded like you were crying out for someone. Also, you said that same word a few times in your sleep, and it still sounded like you were calling out to a person."

Jaeger gave a satisfied nod at her explanation. _Fair enough._

"Good guess. Cinder is... was... a person. That was kind of my 'special name of affection' for Chane."

He smiled fondly as he remembered the origins of the name Cinder.

"She loved a special pair of ruby red glass slippers. She even got a tattoo of them on her back in our third year.

There was this one day in my second year when my partner Raven dragged the rest of our team to Vale for some shopping thing. And man, was that woman a shopaholic.

We were there for several hours, but nothing caught Chane's eye until the last shop we went to. She was like a little kid with the world's largest lollipop when she saw those glistening ruby shoes."

His face fell a bit before the next part of his story.

"She was crestfallen when she saw how much they cost. But she hid it well. Chane even turned down Raven's offer to share the bill.

They decided to go ahead and return to Beacon. I told them that I gonna buy a gift for a friend.

So after that, I bought the pair, even though it basically wiped out my budget for like three months. It was a bit awkward, though, when I went to the till and the guy there was giving me suspicious looks. I tried to explain but he was just like 'Yeah, right.'

I ended up giving the pair to Chane on Barentein's day, even though guys are the ones that are supposed to get the gifts on that day. And that lead to other things, and the rest is history. And that is why I call her Cinder.

Also, her semblance dealt a lot with fire and lava, which of course is also referenced by the name Cinder."

He suddenly realized that he had morphed into Jaeger Banzai the storyteller again when he saw Ruby's curious eyes, the young girl enraptured by the origin of her new favourite couple.

Even Yang and Weiss had happy smiles. _They're probably thinking I'm such a sappy romantic right now. Time to set the record straight._

"Alright, that's enough of my being long-winded. You lot have class, which you're late for," Jaeger bluntly pointed out while gesturing with his head to the wall clock opposite him.

Ruby yelped when she realized that Professor Oobleck's class was to start in just two minutes. She zipped out of the room, using her semblance to power her way through the halls of Beacon and the crowds of students rushing to their various seminars.

Yang charged after her sister, who had obviously forgotten the rest of her team. She too fired up all cylinders and darted off to class.

Blake, however, was clearly in no rush to leave. She neatly replaced the pamphlet on the bookshelf directly opposite Weiss before strolling out of the room, giving one curious, calculating glance to Jaeger, who was completely baffled by the look, before departing the ward.

* * *

"Now, children, based on today's lesson, I want you all to write a paper on why Team DREJ were instrumental in the dissolution of the Pesta Syndicate of Vacuo. Class dismissed!"

For the first time, though, the majority of the students were slow to vacate their seats. While they would usually bolt out at the end of Oobleck's fast-paced and often rambling-like classes, but they were all too busy discussing the topic of the latest seminar. A topic which involved the team of Beacon's very own Jaeger Banzai.

Even Yang was smiling at the end of class. Never before had she been so interested in a historical event. Of course, it helped that she actually knew one of the people involved.

Blake, however, was thinking of Jaeger for completely different reasons. Her mind was still on the story that he had told that morning about Chane. She couldn't shake off the fact that it was eerily similar to what he had done for her on Ruby's birthday.

 _I don't even know why I'm so fixated on it. I mean, he's kind and caring to all of us. Why is this case so special?_

* * *

"Just throw it at me, Claire," Jaeger said with a sombre tone.

"We just don't want you to overexert yourself, Jaeger," the nurse in front of him explained. "Your vitals are still fluctuating. They could still rise and fall rapidly, putting you at risk of falling back into a coma... or even death."

Jaeger glanced over at Weiss. The both of them had guessed that his situation was like that, but it was somehow grimmer and more dire to have in confirmed.

He sighed. "I know that, but I still have responsibilities, and they come first. Don't worry, it's not like I'm using crutches. It's just a wheelchair," Jaeger said, glancing over at the wheelchair in the opposite corner as he did.

"Alright then. Any more questions?" Claire asked.

"Yes, actually. I was wondering—why can't I smell my flesh? Shouldn't there be an odour from my burns?" he asked as he rose from his bed and slowly walked over to his wheelchair.

"Ah, well that's easy to explain. We use a special antiseptic which eliminates that odour."

Jaeger simply nodded as he descended into the wheelchair, wincing as he had to arch his back a bit to conform to his cushioned backrest.

He waved both Claire and Weiss goodbye before rolling out for Ozpin's office. He took an elevator to get to Ozpin's floor.

Jaeger knocked on the large wooden doors, feeling suddenly inferior as he realized just how limited he was in his wheelchair. Even though he knew that he could just get up, he realized that one of the safest ways to get around also removed much of his freedom.

"Come in," Ozpin hollerred from the other side of the doors.

"I need to get back out there," Jaeger stated boldly as he emerged into the wondrous office, rolling right up to Ozpin's desk. "I think that someone tried to assassinate those twins by bombing Forever Fall. They're a security risk, so it would make sense if the Organization wants to eliminate them."

"You are not fit for combat, Jaeger. You are not even able to track someone from the rooftops. You are still a valuable part of this operation, but you need time to heal."

"I don't have time!" Jaeger shouted as he slammed a fist into the desk's surface. "We. Don't. Have. Time.

The Organization has shown their hand, Ozpin. They've shown their capabilities with the razing. Now, we have VERY few leads, and with each day, they are slipping away.

I have spent this past year-and-a-half trying to bring down the Organization. You know what I've lost in that fight! And I can't afford to lose anything or anyone else!"

Jaeger slowly rested his head onto the desk, the vigour in him dissipating. "I have to be out there, Ozpin. I need to be there. The warped memories are coming back, Ozpin. They're all coming back. Raven, Eve, Dax, Chane, everyone! All I see is death when I sleep.

Even in my waking hours, I see their faces. My mind is constantly on them, and its driving me mad. I spent so long trying to bury these memories. I'm constantly being reminded that I've lost almost everything."

He went silent after that, his heavy breathing heating up his region of the desk space.

Ozpin was tentative with his next move. _We've been in this situation once, and he eventually went down the wrong path. We've tried hard to bring him back over the past couple of months. And I know that we all can't lose him again._

The headmaster slowly reached out with his hand until it rested on Jaeger's shoulder. The younger huntsman tensed up slightly at the unprecedented gesture.

"Jaeger, the last time this happened, you buried yourself in the Organization. That was your whole life. Pyrrha. Her parents. Syal. They all lost you. You were as gone as your team. But you are not dead. You did not die on those nights, and you are still alive today.

Yes, we have to bring down the Organization, but you also have a family that needs you. You have friends that need you. And you are no good to our venture if you let go of those that love and care for you. You have people to fight for, not just faceless figures. Never let them go, Jaeger."

The axe-wielder slowly lifted his head, nodding slowly as he processed what Ozpin said. "Alright. But I'm still taking back my class. And before you say that I can't do it, I'm not gonna take 'em out to like Mount Glenn. I'll just have oral lessons instead. I'm thinking of doing tactics tomorrow, actually."

Ozpin nodded in return, satisfied with Jaeger's plans. "Don't overexert yourself, Jaeger. If you need help with grading, or planning, or anything, remember that I'm here."

"Alright then," said Jaeger as he moved towards the door. "But I'm still gonna put in a lot of work. I came here to improve the next wave of hunters, so that they would surpass the previous. So that they wouldn't fall the way we did. You hired me for a job, and I'm gonna do it to the best of my abilities. Even if it kills me."

* * *

"Oh, isn't it wonderful to see the world again!" exclaimed Weiss as she wandered through the streets of Vale with her teammates, as well as Team JNPR. She had also been given a wheelchair, which she was currently using, as well as splints to help keep her legs stabilized while moving around. Ren had been elected to wheel her around, as he was probably the most careful person of the group.

To commemorate her new-found freedom, Yang and Nora collectively decided that they should have an afternoon on the town after school concluded.

They decided that they would start with an early dinner at a chicken grill restaurant, which they had just entered.

After getting their seats (Weiss of course was in her wheelchair) and ordering six of the largest platters available, Yang turned the topic of conversation to the Vytal festival.

"Do you think you can still get entered into the competition?" Jaune asked, earning a glare from Weiss at the obvious insinuation.

"I am still capable of fighting in this wheelchair, Jaune. I bet I could even beat you right now," Weiss said egotistically.

While the rest of the group chuckled, Ruby was seriously considering whether or not they would be able to even compete.

"It's my biggest dream besides becoming a huntress to win the Vytal Festival. But if I have to wait another year, I'd do it, if only to have my partner alongside me."

Weiss gave Ruby a thankful grin, grateful that her partner would put off achieving such a major ambition just so that Weiss would share it with the team as well.

"But couldn't Jaeger pull a few strings and get you three into some sort of competition anyway?" Pyrrha asked.

"Why would he be able to do that?" inquired Jaune, oblivious to the history between the Vytal Festival and Jaeger Banzai.

"He's a three-time champion of the Festival, which has put him on good terms with the organizers. He even helps out with stuff like organizing and security," informed Pyrrha, making the rest of the group, except for Ren, go wide-eyed. Even the more reserved teen had his eyebrows raised.

"WHAT?!" gasped Nora. "Oh that is so totally awesome! I mean that's like only what the best achieve and if we do it then we're ranked among the best which would be so totally cool if we were like that 'cause Jaeger's awesome and if we duplicate his feat then we're awesome as well! Ooh, I wonder if we get sloth plushies as prizes!"

"Alright then. If Jaeger can get them into the competition, then Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, and Blake Belladonna, along with their master tactician and coach Weiss Schnee, will conquer the competition, then the whole festival, then the world!" yelled Ruby, putting the patrons and staff alike on alert. Everyone around was suddenly eyeing the group warily, making Weiss glare at her partner for blurting out their plan of world conquest.

* * *

Later that night...

"Hey Jaune. Thank you for coming," greeted Jaeger as Team JNPR's leader took a seat beside him. "Weiss said that she's going to stay in the dorms for a while longer, so I thought that this would be an apt time to talk to you."

Jaune gulped, afraid of the sudden serious tone that Jaeger had taken on. _Did I do something? I didn't do anything to Pyrrha, did I?..._

"Jaune, I once told you to take care of Pyrrha. I told you that she was a lot frailer on the inside.

And you have seen that over the past few days. I know that Pyrrha has been really broken up over what happened to me.

But I also know that you were there for her. You tried to console her, and even if you didn't ultimately succeed, you tried. So I just want to thank you for that. You're a true friend to Pyrrha, which is all I asked of you, and you delivered."

The two shared a friendly handshake as Jaeger continued to thank Jaune for everything that he had done for Pyrrha.

"I'm not gonna lie. When I first saw that you were Pyrrha's partner, I was very upset. I didn't think you had it in you to be her partner, and I definitely didn't think that you were good enough to lead a team of such calibre and potential."

Jaune lowered his head a bit. The truth obviously hurt him, but he was also grateful that Jaeger was being honest. _As Mom always said, a friend who isn't honest to you about yourself is worse than a stranger who is honest with you._

"But then I saw how you treated your team. Not just Pyrrha, but Nora and Ren as well. And I saw what Ozpin saw in you. You may not be the greatest warrior, but you are a leader of people, not of warriors. You strengthen your team by being a friend.

And that, Jaune, is the first step to becoming a great leader. Now, I know your dad, and I know that he would be proud of what you have done in these months since you joined. I also know your family's history, and what they have done, and I feel confident and proud to say—Jaune, you are truly a hero. You are truly an Arc.

Now, I know that you are interested in a certain friend of mine. And as a thank you for what you've done for Pyrrha, I want to help you win Weiss."

* * *

The two talked for a bit after that, discussing studies and the Vytal Festival, as well as Weiss, until the huntress herself returned.

Jaune departed soon after that, leaving Weiss and Jaeger to talk about her day back in the world outside the infirmary.

They chatted for about an hour before Weiss announced that she was going to retire for the night.

The soft sounds of Weiss slumbering were just beginning when Jaeger's scroll's call tone went off. Without looking, he answered.

His eyes went wide when he saw who it was. The video showed a young girl with long, flowing lime hair that fell all the way to her knees. She had lime eyes, just like Jaeger's.

The girl was wearing a purple, knee-length yukata with golden flames blazing down the sleeves.

"Syal," gasped Jaeger after recovering from his initial surprise.

"Hi... ... Dad, we need to talk..."

* * *

 **You weren't expecting that, were ya?**

 **So who is this Syal? Is she really the daughter of Jaeger? Is Chane her mother? Why weren't Melanie and Miltia in this chapter at all? Find out next time!**

 **As always, share what you thought of this chapter in a review or PM.**

 **Now this is the end of one arc, and the beginning of another. The end of an original arc, and the beginning of a canon one. Next up, Volume 1, Episode 15—The Stray!**

 **Hold on. Don't go! Let's argue again. I'll bribe you with a canelé. I'll call you to kill time. I don't mind being Friend A. Please don't go. Please don't go. Please don't go...please don't leave me behind. (Getting emotional again.)**


	13. For Better or for Worse

**It's good to be back in the realm of canon-based chapters! It certainly is tougher for me to come up with original chapters to fit into the canon.**

 **First of all, I want to say thank you to my beta-readers, The 3o0 and SunaT.U. Suna is helping to edit and correct the previous chapters, while 3o0 is helping me with the plot of the previous chapters. Basically, we're trying to improve the previous episodes and find things to fix in future chapters.**

 **Now, I have changed things in The Stray. There is lifted dialogue, but that's because that dialogue has to happen in order to get to a certain place. But it's certainly not just a copy of the script.** **Much has been added and things have been changed.**

 **I had a lot of fun writing this, surprisingly, and I hope that you'll enjoy it too.**

 **Happy reading!**

* * *

"Where's Roman?" asked Cinder as she sauntered up to their communications computer—the one that only the Black Baron could access.

"He's out on a dust run in down-town Vale."

Cinder nodded, content with the explanation. _Good. Just keep being the obedient lapdog, Roman._

"I've done what you asked. The duo that I've sent to infiltrate the Triskelion are going to extract Lupa tonight. They'll be arriving at Thinis within the next six hours," said Cinder with a bit of a proud smirk. She always did get a kick out of things going as planned.

"Good," said the voice of Mre. Kurtz impassively. "Now, what about Banzai?"

Cinder froze for a moment. Images of the horrific damage done to Jaeger flooded into her mind.

She was quick to shake them off, though. _Can't let anything on. That life has to be distanced from this one._

"He's alive," she stated, making sure to add a little bit of annoyance in her voice. While she herself wanted nothing more than for Jaeger to live a long and healthy life, the character that she had carved for herself wouldn't.

"Remind me why I wasn't allowed to kill him?" The words burned her tongue. It physically pained her to even think of saying words like those.

"Because he is part of a greater plan. My. Plan."

* * *

Jaeger groaned as he awoke. Light beamed from the window to his far left, blaring into his half-opened eyes. He lifted his arm to shield his eyes, squinting to try and sharpen his blurry vision.

"Morning, Jaeger!" piped the upbeat voice of Claire. Jaeger glanced over to where the sound came from, finding the elder nurse shuffling out of the medicine room—or med cabinet, as the staff called it. _So that's who opened the curtains..._

"Morning, Claire," he greeted in his still slightly weak and wheezy voice as he got out of bed to do his morning stretches. He had exercised for about a minute, and was half-way through a sit-up, when he felt a few taps on his shoulder.

He paused, still sitting up on the floor, and turned, seeing Claire standing a few feet behind him.

"How are you doing that?" the nurse inquired with a bewildered tone and look.

He glanced around himself, looking for anything off-kilter about himself.

"Is there something wrong with me? I'm clearly not floating or showing any new power," he said, so baffled as to what was stumping the nurse.

"No, no. It's just... you shouldn't be able to do that. You should be bleeding all over and in excruciating pain right now."

Jaeger's eyes expanded exponentially. He frantically looked himself up and down, even checking his back for blood or any other body fluids seeping through his wraps. _Nothing. Nothing?! What in Remnant is going on?!_

He grabbed hold of one end of his gauze dressings, rapidly unwrapping them. His breath was heavy and fast-paced, sweat starting to emerge from his pores. His fear and uncertainty was completely evident in his face and body.

Reaching the end of the gauze, he chucked it off to one side. Jaeger bolted up onto his feet and checked his back in the mirror. Both Jaeger and Claire gasped in astonishment at what they found.

Absolutely nothing. There was nothing to be found. It was like he had never been burned. He felt around his back. All the flesh was there, all the skin was there. He was completely healed. And that terrified him. _What. Is. Wrong with me?! What in dust is going on?!_

A shrill shriek from behind him yanked Jaeger back into the world. He spun his head, spotting Weiss sitting up slightly in her bed, covering her mouth in shock.

Her mind was racing. _How is he completely healed already? No one's aura is that powerful!_

Her eyes went roaming around his back, trying to find any sign of burns or blood. Nothing.

Then her breath hitched. Her body went stiff. Her heart was pounding as she realized that Jaeger was standing in front of her wearing nothing but his boxers.

His skin was drenched in sweat, the beads of liquid glistening in the sunlight from the window.

Weiss struggled to rein in her mind. _Well, he was technically wearing only the gauze as a shirt. But it covered so much of his torso. What am I supposed to do? I can't look away, and I don't think I want to._

Her eyes captured every detail of his sculpted body, his toned form being imprinted into Weiss' mind.

 _How does Yang spar with this guy?! I mean, he's usually just wearing skintight training shorts, right? Seriously, how can she even move when constantly looking at him like this? I'm just stuck here, frozen, thinking of the perfect tone of his arms, the way his chest rises and falls, the immaculate way his chest is shaped in just the right places..._

"Hey! Weiss! Hello?! Anybody home? Remnant to Ice Queen!"

Her head snapped up, slamming into Jaeger's.

He had realized that the young heiress had become completely motionless—probably from the shock of seeing himself healed so quickly—and moved over to check on her. He was checking to see if her eyes were responsive when she suddenly gasped 'Huh?!' and slammed her forehead into his.

"Uuuuugh," drawled the duo as they massaged their respective temples.

"What happened. You spaced out for a moment."

"I, um, no, I just, um... never mind. I'm fine."

Jaeger stared at her intently, as if he were looking into her very soul.

"Alright then," he suddenly said with a shrug. "I'm gonna go speak to Ozpin about... whatever this thing that happened to me is."

* * *

R, B, and Y of RWBY stared at Weiss in disbelief as she relayed Jaeger's 'miracle'. It was just too crazy for them to believe. Just two days before, he had 'died'. And now, he was completely healed, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Ruby? Yang? Blake?... guys!" snapped Weiss, finally jerking her friends back into reality. "As I was saying, I think we should do something to celebrate. I mean, he did kind of die and all... and he told me that he hates not being able to go out. If he's not being a huntsman, he wants to hang out with his friends, so..."

The quartet were silent as they all pondered what to do. All four of them were still reeling from that morning's incredible news.

"Well, I kinda want to go see the preparations for the Vytal Festival..." Weiss offered, trailing off as she realized that her friends would probably denounce her idea straight away.

"Alright then! As per suggestion of the Ice Queen, Team RWBY begin their quest to make today the most awesomest day out ever!" yelled Ruby triumphantly.

"Awesomest isn't a word," Weiss dead-panned.

* * *

Jaeger watched with amusement as the eyes of Yang, Ruby, and Weiss lit up at Vale being transformed for the Vytal Festival. Even Blake couldn't hide her enjoyment.

"You know, it isn't that amazing once you see it so many times," said Jaeger, causing Weiss to shoot him a disgusted look. She went back to fangirl mode, however, the moment that they came up to a banner that read 'Welcome to Vale!'.

"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" she exclaimed joyously. Even confined to a wheelchair, nothing could stop Weiss from the enjoyment of preparations for a major event.

"It hasn't even started yet," mumbled Jaeger.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss. It's kinda weirding me out," Ruby said with a disturbed look on her face.

"Ha, you should've seen her this morning. Her joy right now is nothing compared to how she was when she saw me in just boxers earlier," quipped Jaeger, triggering sniggers from Yang and horrified looks from the other three girls. "Man, would she like to relive that moment."

"It was so not like that!" yelled Weiss as Ruby turned to her with an incredulous look. Yang, however, wasn't backing off so easily.

"Don't worry, Weiss. We'd all like to get up close and personal with Beacon's hottest teacher," purred the buxom blonde as she pressed herself against Jaeger with a bit too much force for the young huntsman's comfort; her hand seductively stroking his arm.

"Yang!" yelled Ruby pleadingly, even though she was getting used to this sort of behaviour. Of course, Yang hadn't ever done this in public because of the teachers that were prowling the halls of Beacon, just waiting to slap someone in the face with a detention slip.

Blake was blushing off to the side. _I wish she wouldn't do this out in the open. Although, she's not wrong about Jaeger..._

Said huntsman gulped, trying his hardest not to look down. He knew he'd fall into the widow's clutches the moment he did. To his credit, he managed to keep a straight face, gently removing Yang's hand from his biceps before detaching her ample chest from his.

Yang smirked as her salacious gaze continued to travel his body. _You may have gotten away this time, but I know you're going to crack eventually._

"Anyway... Weiss, you were saying?" Jaeger said to move to a slightly less intimate subject.

"Um... oh, yes! Why wouldn't I be beaming? It's a festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will dances! Parades! A tournament!"

"Which I won three times in a row," interjected Jaeger.

Weiss didn't hear him though, her mind too caught up in expressing the joys of planning and organization.

"Oh, the amount of organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"

Yang and Jaeger huffed simultaneously. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring," spouted the blonde boxer.

"Quiet you!" shot back the heiress.

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks," said Yang as they paused near the port.

"Well, we're taking Jaeger around for a celebratory day out!" said Weiss as if it were the obvious thing in the world. "I just thought that we'd take a detour because I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And—as a representative of Beacon—I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."

Jaeger snorted quietly at the obvious lie as they started moving along the riverside again.

"She wants to spy on them so that we'll have the upper hand in the tournament—if we get in," dead-panned Blake.

"Ugh, you can't prove that!" spat the white-haired beauty defensively.

"Wow," said Ruby as she suddenly halted, almost causing Jaeger to crash into her back. After sidestepping her to avoid a collision, he glanced over to where the reaper's gaze was fixed, as did the rest of Team RWBY.

Jaeger narrowed his eyes as he realized that she was staring at a shop that had been broken into. Shards of window glass lay scattered all around the pavement in front of it. Police tape had been set up to cordon off the area. Inside the confine were two detectives.

Without thinking, Jaeger's legs started moving towards the crime scene. Registering this, his female friends scrambled to follow him.

"What happened here?" inquired Ruby with a worried look on her face to one of the detectives, who was writing down notes.

"Sorry, miss, but this is police business," he replied offhandedly before going back to his writing.

"Excuse me," piped up Jaeger. "Jaeger Banzai, huntsman," he said as he whipped out a badge of rank. "They're with me."

"Uh-um, sorry sir," stammered the investigator. "It's a robbery, sir. Dust shop. Second one to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle."

The other man—most likely his partner—approached Jaeger and the girls. "But they left all the money. They always leave the cash and take just the dust."

"Yeah, it just doesn't make a lick o' sense. I mean, who needs that much dust?" commented the first detective.

"An army?"

"You thinking the, uh, White Fang?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough!"

The two started voicing their complaints to each other as they returned to the interior of the shop; Jaeger and Team RWBY completely forgotten.

"Humph," sounded Weiss as she crossed her arms. "The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates."

"What's your problem," said Blake with a hint of annoyance that only Jaeger caught.

"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"They're hardly insane, Weiss. Their leader may be evil, and so are many of his followers, but they're minds are just as sound as ours. That's how they've been so effective and hard to combat. And not everyone in the group is evil. Many of them are just misguided, not knowing what to do. It's humans that drive many of them to the White Fang, where they are brainwashed to do evil," pointed out Jaeger. Everyone failed to notice the sudden sad look on Blake's face, which she wiped off quickly.

"Misguided?" said the incredulous Weiss. "They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"

"So then they're VERY misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in the middle of down-town Vale," Blake returned, having had enough faunus-bashing for one day.

"Blake's got a point. Besides the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago. Maybe it was him," offered Ruby.

Jaeger, standing on the right of the group, did well to mask any reaction to how close Ruby had gotten to the answer. _Another one. They've increased activity in dust robberies from shops and mines across Remnant over the past few days._

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum! Those faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal!" Weiss spouted. Both Blake and Jaeger narrowed their eyes slightly at the huntress-in-training.

"Hey, stop that faunus!" someone yelled abruptly from the docks.

Jaeger sighed in annoyance. _Well that was a convenient plot development._

The five of them, as well as the two policemen investigating the dust shop, bolted forward towards the cry, spotting a blonde monkey faunus wearing jeans and an open white shirt sprinting away from two students on one of the nearby ships.

He mocked them before vaulting overboard onto the pier. The faunus dangled himself from a street lamp's arm before proceeding to peel a banana. He was just about to take a bite when a rock was chucked at him by one of the detectives, who had ran right onto the scene.

The faunus easily dodged it; the rock plopping harmlessly into the water.

"Hey! Get down from there this instant!" the first investigator that Jaeger had talked to said with an annoyed tone. His annoyance turned to anger when the stowaway flung his empty banana peel at the detective's face.

He bounded down the pier and up the stairs to the street as he made his escape, the two policemen chasing after him. The faunus rushed towards Team RWBY.

Time slowed as he caught Blake's eye. The duo's gazes stayed locked together as he gave her a knowing wink before turning back to making his departure, only to find himself crashing face-first into the ground.

Blake snapped herself out of her trance, glancing around wildly to find what had tripped up the young male faunus. Her eyes homed in on Jaeger's outstretched leg. He looked completely nonchalant, with his hands in his hoodie's pockets and a passive look on his face, as if he hadn't done anything.

"Thank you!" said the detectives in between huffs and puffs as they caught up and cuffed the faunus. He growled at Jaeger, making a point to give him the best glare he could mister.

The huntsman was unfazed, however. He kept his blank look. _I did my duty. You, unfortunately, were the criminal in this case. Oh well, you shouldn't get more than a week. You look young enough to escape anything serious._

"Once again, thank you, man!" exclaimed the first detective as he and his partner began to haul the still-fighting faunus away.

"Just doing my job!" hollerred Jaeger back at them.

"See, this proves that the faunus are all just degenerates and criminals!" yelled Weiss triumphantly. Jaeger, however, was much less jubilant, and fired a furious look at his friend.

"Weiss. Shut up!" shouted the huntsman. Thankfully, she shrank back down, and the group re-embarked on their trip around the city. Jaeger's more joyous side came right back out as he started talking with Yang.

But Weiss was still solemn. _Why is he so angry? Does he not remember?! Doesn't he understand what the faunus did to me?! To my family?!_

She was so deep in thought over why Jaeger was angry at her and not the faunus that she failed to notice the girl in front of her until it was too late. White collided into orange, sending both sprawling to the floor.

"Aaghh!" yelled Weiss as she flew onto her feet, startled by the other girl's overzealous grin.

"Salutations!" she greeted.

While Team RWBY stared on in confusion as the pink-bowed girl continued to lie on the floor, Jaeger went right up and knelt down on one knee in front of her.

"Hey, kid. Remember me?" he asked to the surprise of his companions.

"Of course! You are Mister Jaeger Banzai" she said as she sat up.

Jaeger chuckled. "Good. Now, where's your dad and why are you here—by yourself, I might add?"

"Oh, my father is away on business right now!"

"Jaeger, you know her?" asked Ruby tentatively. She was still slightly weirded out by the strange mannerisms of the new girl.

"Guys, meet Penny. I know her dad." Penny flipped up onto her legs as she was introduced, her disturbing action causing Team RWBY to shift one step back.

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny greeted cheerfully.

"Hi Penny. I'm Ruby."

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" asked Yang seriously, provoking Blake to elbow her. "Sorry. I'm Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" repeated Penny in the exact same tone as before.

"You already said that," both Jaeger and Weiss pointed out simultaneously.

"So I did!"

Jaeger chuckled again. "Penny, it's good to see you again, but we have to go right now. I'll see you and your dad again sometime, okay?"

"Sorry for crashing into you," said Weiss with a tone that clearly gave away her being disturbed by Penny.

"Take care, friend!" said Ruby as the five friends departed, ready to make their way to... wherever. As long as they got away from Penny.

"She was... weird," commented Yang. Even though the others didn't respond, she knew that they were thinking the same thing.

"What did you call me?" asked Penny as she suddenly appeared in front of the group, making them all shuffle backwards slightly in surprise... and fear...

"Oh, I'm really sorry. I definitely didn't think you heard me," Yang apologized frantically while Weiss made accusatory gestures to her friend. Jaeger, however, knew what Penny really meant, and sighed in anticipation of what was to come. _Here we go again..._

"No. Not you," Penny said to Yang before walking right up to Ruby.

"You!" she said, coming way to close to Ruby's face for comfort.

"Me? I-I don't know-I-what I-um-uh," stammered the caped girl as she struggled for words.

"You called me friend," reminded the incredulous Penny. "Am I really your friend?"

Before Ruby could make a massive mistake, Jaeger cut in. "Penny, remember what your father told you. You can't just be friends with people. You need to know them before you can call them friends."

Penny eyes widened in realization, as if this were a major revelation to her.

"So, what're you doing in Vale?" asked Yang, desperately hoping to get away from talk of friendship, especially after seeing the exasperated look in Jaeger's eyes when Penny had presented the question.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament."

"Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Weiss couldn't believe it, especially as she looked the girl up and down.

"I'm combat ready!"

"Forgive me, but, you hardly look the part," commented Weiss.

"Says the girl wearing a dress," dead-panned Blake.

"It's a combat skirt," Weiss returned proudly, getting a five of agreement from Ruby.

"Wait a minute. If you're here for the tournament, does that mean that monkey-tailed... rapscallion?" asked Weiss as she gripped Penny's shoulders. Both Jaeger and Blake got ready to intervene in case Weiss went too far again.

"The who?"

"The filthy faunus from the boat!" Weiss cried as she pulled a terrible drawing of the faunus from earlier out of nowhere.

"Why do you keep saying that?! Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!" shouted Blake sharply as she approached Weiss, her eyes flaring up.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Weiss said in an obnoxious and matter-of-fact voice. "Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamp post as a lamp post?"

"Weiss, stop it!" roared Jaeger as he moved towards the heiress. His fists were curled up and his eyes were on fire.

"No!" returned Weiss, refusing to back down from her stance. "He broke the law, Jaeger!"

She turned to Blake. "Give him time. He'll probably join up with those other faunus in the White Fang," she spat venomously.

"Ugh, you ignorant little brat!" screamed Blake as she strode away in fury.

Weiss was about to run up to Blake when Jaeger got in the way. "Blake, hold on. Weiss, shut up! You are being judgemental and unfair to all faunus!"

"You know what they did to me, Jaeger, and yet you continue to defend them?!"

"Because not all faunus are like that! Is Velvet like that? Would you say that Velvet would ever join the White Fang? My own teammate was a faunus! How dare you say that she was evil! She did more good in one month as a huntress than you have ever done in your entire life!"

Weiss gritted her teeth. It killed her to hear words so sharp and brutal from Jaeger, but she wasn't about to back down on her beliefs. "She was a faunus. It doesn't matter how good she was then, or how kind Velvet is now, there's always that side of them that the White Fang appeals to."

"Solely basing this on his species makes you just about as much a scoundrel as he is!" Blake argued.

"So you admit it? The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists made up of faunus who hate humans and want to destroy us?!"

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

Jaeger growled as Weiss tried to twist Blake's words against the faunus. It was taking all that he had to not beat the heiress to a pulp. That's how furious he was.

* * *

Later that night, back at Beacon...

The argument had died down as townspeople began to complain about the shouting, but after (finally) departing from Penny, as well as an awkward dinner in Vale, the fires had reawakened in Team RWBY's room.

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem," Weiss said.

"That is the problem!" yelled the two pro-faunus arguers.

"You realize that you're both defending an Organization that hates humanity, don't you? The faunus of the White Fang are pure evil."

"No, they are not!" boomed Jaeger as he stared down Weiss. Even though she was putting on the tough exterior, she was cowering on the inside. Jaeger had a murderous look in his eyes like never before. "You're just projecting one bad experience with the White Fang on all of the faunus!

What if they said that all of humanity is evil just because one evil man manipulates hundreds of confused humans to incite terrorism? Would that make them—or all of us—pure evil? No!"

"And there's not even such a thing as pure evil!" fired Blake, building on Jaeger's attack. "Why do you think that some faunus like the White Fang hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin. People like you! That force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

"People like me?"

"You're discriminatory!"

"I'm a victim! Look at this scar, Blake!" Weiss yelled furiously as she undid the make-up that covered her wound. "This is because of the White Fang! I was only six years old, and they still tried to kill me! They didn't care what age I was or whether I was defenceless or not!

And it's not just the White Fang. It's the faunus in general! They've been at war with my family for years! Do you know how many lives we've lost? How many times our company has had to send letters of condolences to grieving family's? How many times we've had to attend the funerals of board members slaughtered by the faunus?!

My friends have disappeared, all because they knew me. Dust trains from lowly subsidiaries have been hijacked and stolen, simply because the companies are affiliated with ours.

But you want to know the worst of it all? They drove my family apart! My father was obsessed with the faunus and their hate towards him. His whole world was either dealing with the company or dealing with the faunus. My sister and I were neglected and abandoned.

He'd come home at night and beat my mother! And nothing that any of us did was ever good enough for him! They took my father away from me!

They hate my family, and I hate them! The faunus are all liars! Thieves! Murderers!"

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" shouted Blake. Weiss backed away at the revelation, and both Yang and Blake froze in shock. Jaeger didn't care whether or not Blake was a faunus. She was a person. And he was still glaring daggers into Weiss.

Blake went wide-eyed as she realized her slip-up. She tried to stammer an explanation before bursting out the door, disappearing down the hallway.

Jaeger immediately gave chase. _Though she may be a faunus, I'm still physically superior. And I can't let her get away and make a huge mistake._

To him, it was insignificant that Blake was a faunus. All that mattered was that she was a person. His view of Blake hadn't changed.

He put all his might into his legs, his muscles working overtime to not only match Blake's blistering pace, but to surpass it. As they throttled through the hallways of the dorms and into the corridors of the school itself, Jaeger gradually gained on Blake.

The distance between them shortened to a few metres as they sped into the main entrance hall, and by the time they were out on the avenue, she was only a couple of feet in front of him.

Blake slowed to a halt as she approached the fountain statue in the centre of the avenue, and Jaeger did the same. He reached for her shoulder, turning her to face him.

Blake, tired of running and hiding, crashed straight into Jaeger. She clung to him tightly and cried into his chest as his strong arms enveloped her.

"Why don't you hate me?! Why don't you hate what I am?!" cried Blake as floods of tears poured out. She continued to grip Jaeger's shirt tightly in her hands as they pulled each other close to themselves. "I'm a thief! A murderer! A monster!"

"No you're not!" yelled Jaeger back. He rested a hand on Blake's head as his tone softened. "No, you're not. You're a person. It doesn't matter what species you are.

You're smart. You're perceptive. You friendly. You're kind."

He lifted Blake's head to face him, looking her right in the eye with compassion. "You're beautiful, Blake. And those are not characteristics of a monster. Neither is a murderer or a thief truly kind.

You aren't that person anymore, Blake. You're someone new, someone wonderful. And it doesn't matter what others say or think. Their opinions don't define who you are. You know who and what you are.

And when I look at you, I see none of the things you called yourself. I see nothing that Weiss accused your kind of. I just see you."

Blake, despite her whole facade collapsing, smiled. She wrapped her arms around Jaeger's neck and rested herself into his chest. When no one else did, this man stood up for her, even though he didn't know it. He was the only one who went after her. He was the one who comforted her. He was the closest one she had to a best friend, and she loved him for it.

* * *

 **So that was a thing!**

 **Yeah, that scene with Weiss at the beginning happened! And yes, Jaeger has been healed. But how? That will be answered in a few chapters.**

 **So Weiss's attraction to Jaeger grows at the beginning of this chapter, but how is it affected by the argument in the latter half?**

 **And yes, I did write the Blake-Jaeger scene as a platonic thing. Think of when best friends comfort each other. Of course, these two aren't best friends, but you get the picture.**

 **Oh, and yes! Jaeger knows Penny! Of course, he says that they met because of her 'father', who is, of course, James Ironwood, who Jaeger has expressed distaste for in the past.**

 **As for Sun fans, don't fear! I have changed Sun's fate in that scene, but he will return. As Jaeger said (or rather, thought), he'll probably be out in a week or two.**

 **So Jaeger's healing hasn't really been dealt with. The Vytal Festival and then the argument haven't left much time for it so sink in, and Team RWBY were probably gonna ask questions that wouldn't have gotten answered at dinner, but of course that didn't work out as planned. But this scary situation will be dealt with. Suspicions will rise and questions will wait to be answered!**

 **Also, how did you guys feel about the way I changed the dialogue?**

 **Until then, don't forget to share your thoughts and comments and likes and dislikes about this chapter in a PM or review!**

 **Sayounara!**


	14. I Am Sorry

**AN: Hey guys. I've been trying recently to come back after a lengthy hiatus, as evidenced by the couple of chapters that I've posted for DC Reviews and Batman (and Family) Reviews.**

 **I'm gonna be honest. I didn't really have much, if any, motivation and creativity over the past two months. It's not that I didn't feel motivated by you guys...**

 **I've come off the back of the most difficult, most painful, most challenging year so far of my life. Some may remember me talking about some things that were going on in earlier ANs. It's just been really tough.**

 **I've lost one of my oldest friends. I was also graduating before the summer, and I devoted almost all my life and time to work. I pushed myself so hard, even to the point that I literally collapsed after a short run because I physically and emotionally couldn't take things anymore. It was like my body just shut down for several minutes.**

 **Then, as some of you guys know, one of my oldest teachers (I attended a school that was both my primary and secondary school). That hit me a lot harder than I ever thought it would. Now, I had some work to do over the summer, and that death just landed a KO kick to me.**

 **I started this fanfic to try and help me cope, which is why it sometimes got quite dark.**

 **But all of that isn't an excuse for how much I've disappointed you guys. I HAVE failed this city. You've all been so awesome and supportive the whole time that I've been writing this, and I've let you down more than ever possible. I sincerely apologize. And I know that I don't deserve your trust and faith anymore. Believe me, no one is more disappointed and angry with myself THAN myself.**

 **But, I am pushing myself to get back, not just into writing fanfics, but I'm trying to put everything back on track. Frankly, I need to right now.**

 **So... I know that this next statement will probably disappoint you, and I'll probably even lose several readers...**

 **... I am going to reboot this fanfic. Now, I shall leave this version online. I won't take it down. But there are several reasons over the past few days that have led me to this difficult decision.**

 **First of all, I do think that the first few chapters are very weak, and I know that many people share that sentiment. I want to write chapters that are written by someone who isn't under so much weight; someone who isn't broken so much. Also, remember when I used to update almost every day? Well, I kinda wrote those chapters while watching Smallville as I tried to finally finish that show...**

 **I have begun writing the reboot, and I am trying a new thing with all my fanfics. I'm gonna try to write a few chapters, and post one at regular intervals, keeping a few in my pocket. This is a safeguard in case that what happened before doesn't happen again.**

 **I'm also gonna try and have a few chapters written at a time because that will help me with continuity. It's better if I know what's coming.**

 **That brings me to point 2. I had a few ideas of what to do when I started, but as this fanfic developed, I had ideas that I thought would make a very solid fanfic. There are some things, though, that wouldn't really work because it would be very apparent in earlier chapters that the idea popped up only after several posts.**

 **Now, I know exactly where I want to go and do, and I think I'm gonna produce a much better fanfic. Now, I also want you guys to realize that I'm not just gonna be rewriting. Things will be changed, and I think the changes are for the better. You aren't gonna just be reading the same story with slightly different words. This will be a better developed story.**

 **I also think that a lot of people who were disappointed with the start of this original fanfic wouldn't be motivated to read the better chapters. I do think, however, that they would be open to the new version.**

 **The third reason is the (AMAZING!) first episode of RWBY Volume 3, which I just watched a few hours ago. It has changed what I saw the future of the fanfic a bit, and it has inspired me in creating a much better streamlined and solidified storyline.**

 **I did actually try writing chapter 14. There is a part of a second draft. But I just ultimately felt that simply going back and starting from the beginning would be better.**

 **I'll understand if no one sticks with me. I'd probably do that if I weren't the author. But for those who will read the new (currently untitled fanfic), I thank you. I hope to regain your faith and to produce a much better fanfic.**

 **And go book your Star Wars: The Force Awakens seats! We must beat Avatar's box office!**

 **Anyway, thank you to everyone who has supported me and this fanfic. I hope that you'll enjoy the new version. And understand that I don't hate this one. It's very close to my heart and I love it overall. But I do think that the new one will be better.**

 **I'll be posting later this week, I believe. Until then, may the Force be with you!**


	15. One Last Thank You and Goodbye

**AN: Hey guys! I just want to mention how awesome you've been, and I want to thank you all for the support you gave me after my message to you guys last time. It seriously means a lot.**

 **I want to quickly mention that the new story or reboot, Light in This Darkness, has just gone up! Please read if you liked this story, which, if you're reading this, you probably do.**

 **Now, I just want to give one final thank you over on this fanfic to all the readers who have persisted with this story and with me. Though I don't know most of you, I do love you guys. You make this worthwhile, and just knowing that my stories give someone some enjoyment makes my day so much better. You guys are the best!**

 **So, for the last time on this fanfic, I say goodbye to you all, and I hope to see you over on Light in This Darkness. Thank you and God bless, everyone!**


End file.
